December 21, 2005
A Contrived and Obligatory Best of 2005 List
Wolf Parade, "Apologies to the Queen Mary"
Edan, "Beauty and the Beat"
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, "s/t"
Fiery Furnaces, "EP"
Animal Collective, "Feels"
Spoon, "Gimme Fiction"
Antony & the Johnsons, "I am a Bird Now"
Architecture in Helsinki, "In Case We Die"
Kanye West, "Late Registration"
Out Hud, "Let Us Never Speak of it Again"
Jamie Lidell, "Multiply"
Vitalic, "OK Cowboy"
Mountain Goats, "The Sunset Tree"
New Pornographers, "Twin Cinema"
Sam Prekop, "Who's Your New Professor"
It's probably more appropriate to call these the albums that got the greatest amount of listening to.
Posted by vincent at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2005
I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin-To-Die
Especially from looking at the cover of the record, I would have never expected to enjoy this album as much as I do. It came highly recommended (although not as highly as their first) and when I was ready to buy this thing, I had second thoughts of wasting a few bucks. That certainly is not the case and has turned out to be one of the more surprising purchases of the last several months.
Story goes Country Joe and the Fish were some serious Berkeley hippies in the days of the free-speech movement, playing shows in and around campus consisting primarily of “protest songs” (Where the “Country” comes from, I have no idea).
As far as protest songs are concerned, I have never heard quite as discomforting a song as “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin-to-Die Rag.” A famed protest of the Vietnam War, I had actually never heard it. It’s campy and cartoonish tune contrast so heavily with the content of the lyrics that it’s disturbing to hear such awfully comical and jovial tones alongside such images as boys coming home in boxes. It’s carefree lyric, “Ain’t no time to wonder why, Whoopee!! We’re all gonna die” sticks in your head, leaving you singing it to yourself after the record is done. I guess that’s why it’s considered one of the most important songs of the sixties. Thirty years later one can still listen to this album, both for musical enjoyment and as a historical document of a time and social movement. It’s truly amazing when an album can claim such diverse accomplishments.
The rest of the album continues as a great example of acid rock. I don’t throw around such stupid monikers lightly – there is actually a brief interlude titled “The Acid Commercial” which stands as an open endorsement for the mind-expanding capabilities of LSD. Musically the album is surprisingly tame with respect to spacey psychedelia, and instead is based primarily on folk music. The music is simple and unproduced, the solos sparse, yet deep in musicality. In fact. you get a strange sense from the music and the pictures on the back cover that Country Joe and the Fish are bunch of normal guys who enjoyed playing music and getting high. There is no glitz or glamour, not star factor or egos, just a bunch of hippies making important music.
Posted by Doggrocket at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)
Lola versus the Powerman and the Moneygoround
I have recently begun to listen to the Kinks, starting first with Village Preservation Society (slowly), Lola, and then Something Else. The early sixties innocence and tunefulness of Village Preservation Society and Something Else is fun, and damn catchy, but nothing I’ve heard so far compares to Lola. It’s mean, it’s disgruntled, it’s rock and roll wrapped in a nice concept package.
From the brief intro that leads into the nasty guitar riff of “The Contenders” to the disillusionment of “Top of the Pops,” there is some maturity on this records that makes it pretty clear that the Kinks were making music that they wanted to at this point in their career – not what some producer or record executive told them to. Lola is a direct “fuck you” to the industry while ironically establishing the Kinks firmly as rock legends (if not here in the States then definitely in the UK).
The deep lyricism of “Strangers” and the catchiness of “Lola” (while shying away from references to Donald Duck among others) let you know that the album is different from previous efforts. Equally obvious is the difference in the guitar riffs that jump from the beginning of several tracks with a nastiness that is traditionally reserved for bands more like the Stones.
Another rare trait of Lola is it’s subtle ability to stitch together a concept album (detailing a music industry they detest) without making it so obnoxious and forced that it detracts from casual listening. Yet it contains enough substance to allow for a deeper listen to finally “get it.” Unlike the Who’s Tommy and the Small Faces’ Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake, where the storylines are either so strong or storylines need to be interjected between tracks, Lola possesses tracks that stand firmly on their own and never force the listener to participate in a story they’d rather ignore. I’d be interested to try some other Kinks albums that sound as mature as Lola, but I’m struggling to pull the trigger between a few. Unfortunately, I doubt I’ll find another I like as much as this.
Posted by Doggrocket at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2005
DangerDoom
I’ll admit that I am completely obsessed with the rapper known most widely as M.F. Doom. I was anticipating the release of Doom’s collaboration with DJ DangerMouse – “DangerDoom” since I first glimpsed a poster downtown (they hyped it on the street way in advance of the release).
Doom’s focus is on the concept album: he adopts some sort of identity (usually derived from juvenile domains: comic books, monster movies) and pours pure absurdity into every track. The end result is a dysfunctional comedy of modern rap – a sideshow that’s much more lighthearted and fun than the morose and schizophrenic perturbations Kool Keith, an obvious influence.
Although I’ve listened to this album nearly non-stop for two weeks now, there are aspects of it that really start to irritate me after a while. The concept on DangerDoom is related to sampling and cameos from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim program lineup – and while the rhyming is top caliber ( The super flow with more jokes than Bazooka Joe | mix between Superfly Snuka and a superhoe | Chew a MC like El Chupa Nibre | Digest a group and sell the poop on eBay) I’ve quickly tired of the Aqua Teen interludes and cameos. They just seem to break the flow.
But that aside, it’s a great disc that will stay in my rotation for a while longer, I’m sure. DangerMouse is an adequate DJ – he’s certainly a smoothly technical and well-versed media mixer, but one suspects he has finer ears than fingers. It’s probably not as good of a first purchase as other discs (like Madvillain or Victor Vaugh would be), but if the appearances by Ghostface and Talib Qweli might make a alt-hip hop fan interested in what’s happening here.
Posted by mattmattmatt at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2005
10-9-95 Peoria, Illinois
Joe Lally (Fugazi bassist) set up a website to release Fugazi live material (www.fugaziliveseries.com) that has been collected throughout the years, from the band's first show to their 10th anniversary show and beyond. At $10 a pop, postage-paid, it's a pretty good deal.
After scanning the set lists on the website, I decided the October 1995 show would be my first venture into the Fugazi live series. I firmly believe Fugazi was at the height of their abilities following Red Medicine and this concert catches them on that very tour. Furthermore, I also believe that End Hits is their worst album, and this concert avoids all End Hits references. $10 and five days later, the album landed in my mailbox.
Caught up in the excitment of my memories of Fugazi in concert, I forgot to take one crucial fact into consideration when choosing an album -- Fugazi's stance on moshing. How could moshing affect me at home while I listen to a live cd? Well, Fugazi stops about every three or four songs (sometimes in the middle of a song even!) to tell some dumb shits in the audience to quit fighting. I used to think this was great. I didn't mosh myself, and I thoroughly enjoyed going to a Fugazi show and not having to worry about protecting myself from some asshole. I tend to disagree slightly with this opinion now (or at least when it applies to selling cds on a website of a concert). It completely destroys any flow that is established, and frankly, I didn't pay $10 to hear Fugazi complain to the crowd.
What's even more annoying is the fact that this show appears to not be a document of the Fugazi's music, so much as a document of the band's stance on moshing. A one point late in the first disc they actually ask the audience to sit down because there is too much fighting. As they say on the disc, this is the first (and I'm assuming only) time they ever had to do this. For our sake, the remaining show is fantastic, free of interuptions and full of inspired performances of "Bed for the Scraping," "Waiting Room," and "Blueprint" to name a few. All this fighting nonsense makes the first disc pretty unlistenable, which is unfortunate.
What's the solution? I think your best bet is to buy only the DC shows, including the 10th anniversary show, which looks to be a pretty fantastic setlist as well. From my recollection, there was never any problem at a show in DC that I saw, they apparently heard the Fugazi no-fighting schtick one too many times. With that said, I was pleased with the quality of the recording and wouldn't mind checking out some other selections, although hopefully they have less "Take that shit to the football field" banter.
Posted by Doggrocket at 01:57 PM | Comments (3)
June 25, 2005
Anniemal
Pitchfork interviewed Annie for its weekly feature, and that prompted me to write my own mini feature. In that interview Annie, who is hot and from Norway, said that she likes to make happy songs, and that statement pretty much encapsulates Anniemal. This album is sugary electro-pop at its sticky, sweet best; if you like Kylie Minogue, Annie is the hipster equivalent.
Underneath the throbbing, pulsing melodies are a bit of melancholy, but that could just be Annie’s thin, whispery singing, which at times gets really annoying. Although there’s something in her voice that sometimes makes me think, “I can’t hate this,” even when I want to. Like a good pop album should, there are lots of songs about the stuff romances are made of: parties, missed connections, teasing, etc.
Probably not by accident, “Chewing Gum” reminds me a lot of the Tom Tom Club, from the beat to the quasi rap. “Come Together” has a hard-driving, dance-floor packing beat, but it’s difficult to hear what Annie is actually singing about. The two standout tracks on this album are “Heartbeat” and “Greatest Hit”, the latter which she made way back in 1999. Everything about “Heartbeat” is ridiculously irresistible, and when those drums kick in, it’s a done deal. Unfortunately the song ends on a rather abrupt note.
If you’re in the mood, Anniemal is a great album, otherwise it’s just too much pop to handle.
Posted by vincent at 06:22 PM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2005
Rock Bottom
My deepest apologies for more art-rock trash. What can I say, I'm addicted. Furtermore, some dumb website keeps egging me on. I thirst for new music, those "forgotten gems." The weirder the better, although on many occasions I'm pissed after dropping the cash on some. Fortunately there are bright spots, and this is one of them.
I'll spare you the history, (go search on Allmusic) because I think the music on this record deserves to be talked about. It's extremely emotional and yes, strangely beautiful. Imagine all the dumb droning and annoyances of other art-rock bullshit. Then, imagine that for once it all worked out. That's Rock Bottom. It doesn't rock your socks off, but it's not ambient crap that needs to be put on in the background either. It's defintely some complex stuff.
I think the most impressive part of it all is the amalgum of styles that are found on the record, woven seemlessly into a tight little unit. Nothing is forced, it's smooth and soothing to listen to, and fun to dissect. From the jazz noodlings on the later tracks, to the Frampton-like talk box voicings (at least I think) on "A Last Straw" to the repitious vocals on "Alifib," nothing is over the top. It fits, it makes sense, it's sublte, and it's damn good.
With that said, there is nothing quite like this album that I've heard before. Or at least, every glimpse of a style is done so efficiently and meshed together so uniquely, that it stands apart from others for a number of reasons. The vocals for instance, are so entrancing and a part of the sound, that it blows away Quiet Sun-type instrumental stuff I've talked about before. Furthermore the music is so smooth and free from any "rock" classification that I can think of, it separates itself from the Eno I hate because you can actually sit down and listen to it!
I don't want to sound like some rock snob, because that's not what I'm trying to do. I'll admit there is a lot of this rock critic crap I disagree with (the Residents for instance), but I do like this album. I really do consider this album extremely accessible and for lack of a better description, sadly beautiful. (btw it's only $6 on iTunes for those so inclined).
Posted by Doggrocket at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)