In high school, one of my friends dated a guy who always wore this shirt I thought was really cool. It was black and had these weird little creatures wearing masks on it with the words "My Morning Jacket" on the bottom. I later found out that shirt was the cover art for their album "Z". My Morning Jacket has always been that band I've heard a lot about, always liked what I'd hear, but never felt the need to go pursue them (if you know what I mean)...until now. Over spring break my brother and I watched the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There and in the movie, My Morning Jacket front-man Jim James, makes an appearance with the band Calexico covering Bob Dylan's song "Goin to Acapulco." It was the first time, in a long time, that a song really truly moved me (and the scene in the movie as well). Watching this and seeing how the song epitomizes the scene to perfection is exactly what I want to strive to do later in life if I end up working in music supervision. Anyways, here's the scene:Originating in Louisville circa 1998, My Morning Jacket is an indie rock and alternative country (in some cases) band that got its name from the initials "MMJ" seen on a discarded coat lead singer Jim James once saw. Jim James has probably the most unique vocals I've ever heard. He utilizes spring-reverb for all facets of their sound, making even an arena filled stadium sound intimate. My favorite MMJ song is without a doubt "One Big Holiday". Everytime I hear it, I just want to run. In addition, put it in a movie - preferably a chasing scene or maybe when a character comes to some sort of self-realization. Here's my favorite live performance of it:
Their first album The Tennessee Fire was a breath of fresh air for American music. The album evokes a sort of lonely memory of a Gothic country night. Electric and acoustic guitars, harmonica, lap-steel, drums and bass all join Jim James' unique (Neil Young meets Wayne Coyne) voice in a huge pool of reverb. At first you wonder if his voice will overtake the songs, but after the first chorus you realize that the beauty of these simple and emotive songs is only enhanced by the addition of this effect, and by the end of the first song, you can't even tell that it's there.
Their sophomore album At Dawn is full of the same strumming acoustic guitar, hauntingly treated vocals, elements of country and blues, and everything else that we all love about My Morning Jacket. This album seems to blend more of a Neil Young, The Band, Bob Dylan and Velvet Underground vibe. Their music is a magnificent country, rock and Americana stew. I just recently added "The Way He Sings", "If It Smashes Down" and "I Needed It Most" to my Rain playlist so it is definitely worth taking a listening to.
It Still Moves is my favorite My Morning Jacket album. It's the last album produced by Jim James which in my opinion makes the two albums following this one a little less personal. This album is reverb central with some of the best guitar songs I've ever heard. The album itself is the spacious sound of southern psychedelia, synthesis of the Flaming Lips' fever dreams and the Allman Brother's chops-flaunting excursions filtered through the country-boy-for-life sensibilities of lead singer Jim James. His vocals simply echo to the point that it sometimes sounds like it was recorded down in his native Kentucky's Mammoth Cave. The first song on the album "Magheeta" will be the first song on my Summer 2010 playlist. In fact the entire It Still Moves will mostly likely be on the playlist. "Golden" is a perfected ballad (check out Marco Benevento's cover of the song), "One Big Holiday" has one of the best intros, "Run Thru" is included in the "Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Songs", and "Easy Morning Rebel" has just the right amount of southern love. Overall, this album needs to be added to your collection.
The infamous album cover art that started it all. Z was a different turn for MMJ, with new keyboardist Bo Koster and new producer John Leckie. This album also features well renowned musicians such as Andrew Bird on strings and whistles heard on "Gideon", "Into The Woods" and "It Beats 4 U", and M. Ward on acoustic guitar and background vocals on "Into The Woods". This is the most upbeat album they've produced with the radio-friendly "Off The Record" and calliope organ pinwheels in "Anytime". "Knot Comes Loose" is featured on my "Roscoe Road At Night" playlist and is probably my favorite song on the album. To many people this is their favorite MMJ album and it makes sense - it's well done. But for me, I prefer the raw authentic MMJ heard on the last three albums, "It Still Moves" specifically.
Released in 2008, MMJ's concept album Evil Urges is by far the most unique album. The opening track "Evil Urges" sounds like it beamed down from Radiohead's "Ok Computer" with the spacey keyboards. This album is all about those evil urges, from fantasizing about a "Librarian" to the sexual frustration of "Touch me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2" My friend's favorite MMJ song is "I'm Amazed" featured on this album and I'd have to agree it is up there on my favorite MMJ songs. I have yet to listen tot his album all the way through with no interruptions, but will definitely do so soon enough.
