Big red machine

I was in a band once. It was far from perfect. So far from perfect in fact, that it lasted about a semester and a half. 

I learned a lot in that short time. I learned how to try and get creative minds to work together. I learned how to attempt to teach someone else a song you wrote. I tried to learn how to write a second guitar part to a song I wrote. I failed miserably at writing drum parts. I had our bass player thrown in jail. 

It was a set of interesting lessons to learn. I wonder how I would tackle those same tasks now all these many years later. I think I could actually write a second guitar part to some of the songs I've written now and have it actually make sense. I might even actually be able to help someone else write a bridge solo, though I've never really had the chops for them. I know I could write a bass part (and I actually want a bass now so I can get better at it). Still pretty damn sure I have absolutely no idea how to write a drum part.

Maybe if I started searching for likeminded musicians in this huge city I'd get lucky enough to find someone whose skills and temperament matched with mine. It happens all the time for so many people. In fact, it happened for the musicians on this week's record.

But let me take you first back to 1993, and then to 2009.

I'm pretty sure the first compilation album I ever owned was called No Alternative. It was released in 1993 as the third benefit for the Red Hot Organization. They raise money to donate to fight HIV/AIDS and to raise awareness to the disease. No Alternative was their third compliation; seventeen compilations later they released Dark Was The Night in 2009. It was curated by Aaron Dessner of The National, who also contributed a track with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

That track was called "Big Red Machine." Nine years later, Aaron, his brother Bryce, and Justin have made it into a full album under the same name - Big Red Machine.

Before any of you think it, this is not simply what a mashup of The National and Bon Iver would sound like. Well, not exactly. The Dessners are primarily guitar players in The National, and Vernon is basically everything in Bon Iver. Yet Big Red Machine isn't a guitar record at it's heart. It's got guitar on it, but it's not a guitar record at all - it's bigger than that.

As the album starts I instantly think of Radiohead's Amnesiac. After a few tracks that could easily have been Thom Yorke/Jonny Greenwood songs, we get to the album's fifth track, "Hymnostic," which feels like it should have the growl of Tom Waits. The next few tracks could have easily fit on the last Bon Iver album, 22, A Million, before we end with two songs that are quintessential The National. I actually would love to hear Matt Berninger from The National sing the album's closer, "Melt." It takes me back to tracks like "Mr. November" in stature, just with less bombast.

So maybe it is a bit mashup, but when it's done by such insanely talented musicians it just works. Yet it's not just an album for fans of the two source bands, it's an album for anyone that wants to have an example of big music/artistic minds working together seamlessly. I took copious notes, in case the need ever arises again.

Recommended tracks: "Melt," "Hymnostic," "Gratitude," "Deep Green," "Air Stryp"