It’s pretty rare to see a songwriter break away from his original band and start a more successful solo project. But Ben Folds is a resourceful guy. Before forming Ben Folds Five, he was a percussion major at UMiami and played the hell out of the bass and piano in his down time. Ben Folds Five disbanded in the early 2000s and Folds was left to record most of the instruments for Rockin’ the Suburbs, his 2001 release, alone. This task may have been a problem for mere mortals, but after a week of listening to the 12 song LP, I’ve figured out that Folds is no mere mortal.

The album begins with the energetic “Annie Waits,” which properly sets the tone for the album by alternating a catchy piano riff with precisely placed claps. The track is layered with strong bass lines and several keyboards that are a strong part of Folds’ signature sound. One of the album’s strongest tracks, “Zak And Sara,” follows with thundering mixolydian piano arpeggios and lyrics about two oddball lovers navigating their young lives together. A delightful version of the song with Ben Folds and WASO is posted below:

The emerging pattern displayed here continues throughout the rest of the album. Most of Folds’ tunes tell tragic stories of the downfalls of various members of suburbia. “The Ascent of Stan” tells the story of an ex-hippie who has gone corporate, while “Fred Jones Part 2” is about a man who was fired from his job at an old age. The first nine tracks generally follow this trend and leave the listener thinking, “Alright Ben… suburban life isn’t that bad…” Well. Ben thought the same thing.

The title track, “Rockin’ the Suburbs” shows Folds’ lighter side. The hit single sarcastically plays upon the angsty cry of many modern musicians, displaying hilarious lyrics such as “I’ll take the checks and face the facts / That some producer with computers fixes all my shitty tracks.” It’s tough to not crack a smile when Folds insists “Y’all don’t know what it’s like / being male, middle class, and white” in his toughest rapper voice. For those who aren’t into piano based “punk for pussies” (as Folds describes his music), “Rockin’ the Suburbs” is a fantastic gateway song.

All in all, Folds does quite well on his own. If you are in the mood to smile at a quirky lyric or tap your foot to some undeniably catchy piano melodies, this is the album for you.

Around this time last year, Mirko Azis and I explained in this very column why minimal music is the richest, most compelling form of music. If you read the article, I’m sure you were convinced that we were, in fact, correct, and thus immediately made Gestalt psychology the primary force in your life. For this, dear reader, I raise my glass to you in congratulations.

A year later, I’m here to tell you that while minimal music is the pinnacle of clear, succinct, and meticulously crafted music, there are other types of music that I enjoy.

As a society, we often forget the importance of a little variety in our lives. It changes our routines. It adds that extra element of surprise and wonder. And, most importantly, it’s not perfectly minimal. There are so many wonderfully fantastic things out there, so why should we discard everything but the essential? My writing partner from last year may not agree entirely, but I’m here to tell you that there is no good reason why you only need to listen to one or two types of music.

Have you ever heard the sounds of the ever-so-free jazz composer Sun Ra or the American blues shouter music of Wynonie Harris? How about the rhymes of the lyrically talented hip-hop group Jurassic 5?

My point is simple: Regardless of genre, there are so many great artists and musicians out there to discover.

Fortunately, WRCT makes it easy for you. From Feb. 10 at noon until Feb. 12 at midnight, WRCT will broadcast half-hour segments of music, each dedicated to one particular artist or band. In addition to this, I highly recommend looking into websites like last.fm that track all of the music you consume and allow you to see what your friends are listening to. I sometimes spend hours listening to my friend’s libraries and, through this, my obsession with minimal music is slowly dwindling.

This being post number one, I’d like to explain the purpose of my writings. Basically, these are just postings of what I’m interested in and what I’m playing on the radio on Saturday nights. If you don’t know, it’s a heavy metal show on WRCT 88.3 FM Saturdays from 9pm to 12am called “Too Evil to Have a Human Name.” I get questions frequently about the music I’m playing, so I’d like to use this space to talk more about it and make recommendations about records and shows in town. Probably more importantly, I’d like to bring attention to the local scene and some of the great bands around the Pittsburgh area.

First up, if you’ve listened to the show you probably have heard me mention a recent compilation of local bands put out by the local label Innervenus. It’s called Iron Atrocity Vol. 1 and you can find a free download at http://www.innervenus.org/iron-atrocity/. It’s a lot of great bands representing many different styles of metal. What’s amazing is the fact that there are many more bands not on that compilation, and Vol. 2 is currently in the works.

Currently I’m enthralled with a lot so called “old school death metal.” While some of it is completely ripping off old Entombed, there are some slightly original records being put out. The band Vallenfyre from the UK is made up of members of Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Doom. The record is called A Fragile King on Century Media and the sound is definitely older style death metal but there’s enough of that British doom/death sound along with some interesting song writing and riffs to keep me listening over and over. One of my favorite records of all time is Incantation’s Onward to Golgotha and that sound seems to be making a comeback. Bands like Necros Christos from Germany with Doom of the Occult (Sepulchral Voice Records), Father Befouled (US/Relapse) with Morbid Destitution of Covenant, and Mitochondrion (Canada/Profound Lore) with Parasignosis.

My biggest disappointment recently was attending the Opeth concert a couple of months ago. While I understand the new album’s ’70s prog rock direction and actually enjoy it, the set list of the concert contained nothing heavier than that sound. No classic Opeth progressive death metal. Hopefully, they will tour again with different set list. I will definitely check it online before buying a ticket.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to call into my show Saturday night.

Bill