"Return To Hot Chicken," "Moby Octopad," "Sugarcube," "Damage," "Deeper Into Movies," "Shadows," "Stockholm Syndrome," "Autumn Sweater," "Little Honda," "One PM Again," "Center Of Gravity," "We Are An American Band," and "My Little Corner Of The World." You probably thought I was giving the track listing there for a second. But I wasn't. I was listing the songs that kick my ass. Every song on this album is amazing with the possible exception of "Spec Bepop," which really isn't bad. It just kind of goes on a little longer than it should have.
Is this album too long? Heavens, no. Isn't it only like 45 minutes? *goes to check Google*
Christ, the album is 70-minutes long? Wow. That is like 25 minutes of material that I feel like has been squished down. Believe me, if an album drags on, I will say it. I am not heaping unusual praise on this album. I genuinely just assumed it was of normal length. Because it packs a punch. It quite literally has some of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. Wanna know how long "Return To Hot Chicken" is? It is like a minute-and-a-half. And somehow it feels like a full statement. How they manage to do this with so little time and no vocals, I am uncertain. My guess is that they have gotten good at making shit really interesting from being a shoegaze band and now that they turned to a more rock-based sound, they are able to create beauty effortlessly. That is what I would dare posit.
In any case, this is an astounding album. As pretty as it is mesmerizing as it is glorious.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Painful by Yo La Tengo
Oh, God. I do not think I have ever listened to an album that seemed so fully put together on first listen. I was at work when I put it in, and I felt like I was floating away when the beautiful wash of "Big Day Coming" drifted through my skull. Feeling like I was riding on the tail of a shooting star, I shot through the night sky at a pace that somehow manages to be both neck-breaking and sluggish. After listening to this album only twice, I added it to my top 20 favourite albums list. I am not sure if I would still stand by that, but I do genuinely love this album.
Shoegaze should not be allowed to be this beautiful. And SO interesting! Shoegaze is almost stereotypically boring, right? Actually, I really like shoegaze, but still! This is one of the prettiest and most cohesive albums out there.
I have a tradition of starting to listen to the album again as I write the review. And this is making it very difficult to write the review. Writing is a fairly grounding process. It tends to pull you down to earth. Free flow is actually much more difficult than it sounds. Particularly when listening to this album. Am I wrong to call it Beethoven's 9th Symphony? Or at least the indie rock equivalent? It is unsettling how gorgeous this album is. I definitely see it as being a lot like Loveless by My Bloody Valentine in that I really could not tell you the names of many of the songs. They all just seem to blend into one another like the whole album is bleeding. How Yo La Tengo takes such long guitar riffs and crafts them into such a beautiful and enlivening album, I shan't ever know.
Give it a listen. I would put it up with Loveless.
Shoegaze should not be allowed to be this beautiful. And SO interesting! Shoegaze is almost stereotypically boring, right? Actually, I really like shoegaze, but still! This is one of the prettiest and most cohesive albums out there.
I have a tradition of starting to listen to the album again as I write the review. And this is making it very difficult to write the review. Writing is a fairly grounding process. It tends to pull you down to earth. Free flow is actually much more difficult than it sounds. Particularly when listening to this album. Am I wrong to call it Beethoven's 9th Symphony? Or at least the indie rock equivalent? It is unsettling how gorgeous this album is. I definitely see it as being a lot like Loveless by My Bloody Valentine in that I really could not tell you the names of many of the songs. They all just seem to blend into one another like the whole album is bleeding. How Yo La Tengo takes such long guitar riffs and crafts them into such a beautiful and enlivening album, I shan't ever know.
Give it a listen. I would put it up with Loveless.
A Clusterfuck Of Phases
After I finished up with my Songs In The Key Of Life phase, something happened. Something weird. And I really did not and do not know how to approach it on this blog, so I decided to start with an introductory post.
In chronological order, I went through the following phases: Painful by Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One by Yo La Tengo, Drums And Wires by XTC, Parklife by Blur, Animals by Pink Floyd, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn by Pink Floyd, Wakin' On A Pretty Daze by Kurt Vile, and Hello Nasty by the Beastie Boys. But, here is the thing: Almost all of these happened pretty well simultaneously. Because of how close they were, I really did not have time to finish or fully digest very many of them. In fact, the only ones that I plan to write reviews for here soon are Painful, I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, Parklife, and Animals. That's right; as of yet, out of eight, only four of them have emerged fully victorious.
Now, before I start writing the reviews about those four, I feel it necessary to say something briefly about the other four. All four of these seem to follow the same pattern. In the case of Drums And Wires, I know the first six songs better than the rest. In the case of Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, I know the first six songs better than the rest. In the case of Wakin' On A Pretty Daze, I know the first three songs better than the rest. In the case of Hello Nasty, I know the first seven songs better than the rest. What is clearly happening is that I have not yet listened to them enough completely to put them on here (by the way, I'd bet my boots that Drums And Wires is certainly going to be the next entry).
Now, allow me to write the other four.
In chronological order, I went through the following phases: Painful by Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One by Yo La Tengo, Drums And Wires by XTC, Parklife by Blur, Animals by Pink Floyd, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn by Pink Floyd, Wakin' On A Pretty Daze by Kurt Vile, and Hello Nasty by the Beastie Boys. But, here is the thing: Almost all of these happened pretty well simultaneously. Because of how close they were, I really did not have time to finish or fully digest very many of them. In fact, the only ones that I plan to write reviews for here soon are Painful, I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, Parklife, and Animals. That's right; as of yet, out of eight, only four of them have emerged fully victorious.
Now, before I start writing the reviews about those four, I feel it necessary to say something briefly about the other four. All four of these seem to follow the same pattern. In the case of Drums And Wires, I know the first six songs better than the rest. In the case of Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, I know the first six songs better than the rest. In the case of Wakin' On A Pretty Daze, I know the first three songs better than the rest. In the case of Hello Nasty, I know the first seven songs better than the rest. What is clearly happening is that I have not yet listened to them enough completely to put them on here (by the way, I'd bet my boots that Drums And Wires is certainly going to be the next entry).
Now, allow me to write the other four.
Saturday, July 25, 2015
FLASHBACK: The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
It should not come as a surprise that The Suburbs was the hardest Arcade Fire album for me to get into. Where Funeral has some of their best songwriting and certainly their deepest lyricism, The Suburbs seizes pop sensibility and draws simple riffs out. Far. At first, it feels like they are drawn out way too long. Where Neon Bible could oscillate between simple, whispered truths and arena-filling cliches, The Suburbs attempts to handle mediocrity in a way that no one had ever tried to approach it: via grandiosity. Where Reflektor takes some of their most complicated riffs and subtly allows them to evolve over the course of seven-minute tracks, The Suburbs takes stunningly simple riffs and plays them on repeat for five to six minutes without changing practically anything. So, why do I love this album so much? How is it that I can look at the fact that Pitchfork only gave it an 8.6--a great rating, too--and be infuriated? How can the fact I don't see a big ol' 10 or at least a 9.5 bother me?
The Suburbs somehow manages to be dark and atmospheric while simultaneously being colourful and stripped down. It is content being both Disintegration and Boys Don't Cry. I think songs like "Hallogallo" by Neu!, "Trans-Europe Express" by Kraftwerk, "All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem, "Reverse" by Eno & Hyde, and "Future Days" by Can show how this album manages to be so good. Sometimes, relatively static and repetitive song structure is hypnotic and I am not going to say that that same principle does not apply to many of the songs on here. All the songs (with the sole exception of "We Used To Wait," which is an AMAZING song) feel like they belong together. Like they are all the grandchildren at a family reunion.
Like the other Arcade Fire albums, some of the little things on the album are what get me. Like the single piano note being repeatedly pummeled behind the chorus of "City With No Children." Or the cloud-like mist of instrumentation shrouding the refrain in "Rococo." Even after 50 or so listens, I still find myself being mesmerized by little idiosyncrasies.
The Suburbs is the type of album that I know I could probably talk about for a long fucking time. Even though it is my least favourite Arcade Fire album, I say this in the most affectionate way imaginable. Also, I suppose I should probably explain myself when I said that "We Used To Wait" sounds like it doesn't belong on the album. Has anyone else noticed that The Suburbs all has a sort of bright, but impressionistic production value to it? Like, it has the feeling of a dimly lit Gustav Klimt painting. EXCEPT "We Used To Wait." That song has a bluish, metallic, steely, precise quality to it that I do not think is anywhere else on the album. The only other song that feels like a little bit of a black sheep is "Month Of May," but that is just like they turned up the lights on that song. The impressionistic quality remains. Anyway, that may or not make sense to NON-MEs.
Withstood The Test Of Time: "Rococo," "City With No Children," "We Used To Wait," "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
The Suburbs somehow manages to be dark and atmospheric while simultaneously being colourful and stripped down. It is content being both Disintegration and Boys Don't Cry. I think songs like "Hallogallo" by Neu!, "Trans-Europe Express" by Kraftwerk, "All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem, "Reverse" by Eno & Hyde, and "Future Days" by Can show how this album manages to be so good. Sometimes, relatively static and repetitive song structure is hypnotic and I am not going to say that that same principle does not apply to many of the songs on here. All the songs (with the sole exception of "We Used To Wait," which is an AMAZING song) feel like they belong together. Like they are all the grandchildren at a family reunion.
Like the other Arcade Fire albums, some of the little things on the album are what get me. Like the single piano note being repeatedly pummeled behind the chorus of "City With No Children." Or the cloud-like mist of instrumentation shrouding the refrain in "Rococo." Even after 50 or so listens, I still find myself being mesmerized by little idiosyncrasies.
The Suburbs is the type of album that I know I could probably talk about for a long fucking time. Even though it is my least favourite Arcade Fire album, I say this in the most affectionate way imaginable. Also, I suppose I should probably explain myself when I said that "We Used To Wait" sounds like it doesn't belong on the album. Has anyone else noticed that The Suburbs all has a sort of bright, but impressionistic production value to it? Like, it has the feeling of a dimly lit Gustav Klimt painting. EXCEPT "We Used To Wait." That song has a bluish, metallic, steely, precise quality to it that I do not think is anywhere else on the album. The only other song that feels like a little bit of a black sheep is "Month Of May," but that is just like they turned up the lights on that song. The impressionistic quality remains. Anyway, that may or not make sense to NON-MEs.
Withstood The Test Of Time: "Rococo," "City With No Children," "We Used To Wait," "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Thursday, July 23, 2015
FLASHBACK: Innervisions by Stevie Wonder
You guys should have seen this coming.
To say that I ever went through a phase with Innervisions is incorrect. That's like saying I went through a phase with The White Album or OK Computer. It is one of those albums that has just sort of always been there. And, somehow, despite its ubiquity in my life, every listen seems to only propel its status in my mind further into the stratosphere.
Writing about Innervisions seems wrong somehow. Like trying to describe salt. It is such a particular, divine flavour. It is a truly perfect album. Every song on it either makes me want to cry or dance or scream. It is one of the most emotive albums I have ever heard, to be sure. I mean, have you heard "Living For The City"?
You guys, I have written 25-page essays about minutiae of evolutionary theory, but pounding out a few decent paragraphs without repeating, "It's great," in all caps ad nauseum on Innervisions is proving to be an impossible task. So just live with the fact that this album is a perfect 10/10 and that is all I have to say about that.
Withstood The Test Of Time: Again, the whole album, but in particular, "Living For The City," "Higher Ground," "Jesus Children Of America," and "He's Misstra Know-It-All."
To say that I ever went through a phase with Innervisions is incorrect. That's like saying I went through a phase with The White Album or OK Computer. It is one of those albums that has just sort of always been there. And, somehow, despite its ubiquity in my life, every listen seems to only propel its status in my mind further into the stratosphere.
Writing about Innervisions seems wrong somehow. Like trying to describe salt. It is such a particular, divine flavour. It is a truly perfect album. Every song on it either makes me want to cry or dance or scream. It is one of the most emotive albums I have ever heard, to be sure. I mean, have you heard "Living For The City"?
You guys, I have written 25-page essays about minutiae of evolutionary theory, but pounding out a few decent paragraphs without repeating, "It's great," in all caps ad nauseum on Innervisions is proving to be an impossible task. So just live with the fact that this album is a perfect 10/10 and that is all I have to say about that.
Withstood The Test Of Time: Again, the whole album, but in particular, "Living For The City," "Higher Ground," "Jesus Children Of America," and "He's Misstra Know-It-All."
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Songs In The Key Of Life by Stevie Wonder
The creation of a good double album is often an onerous affair. The album has to be thematically continuous enough that you can view it as a single fluid statement. Each disc has to be distinct enough that you can listen to them as separate documents. The second disc has to feel somewhat like a sequel to the first without suffering the handicap that frequently befalls sequels. With all this in mind, Songs In The Key Of Life should seem all the more impressive.
I would describe the White Album as a perfect double album. Controversially enough, I would describe Reflektor by Arcade Fire as a perfect double album. Songs In The Key Of Life comes really really really really painfully close to perfection, but I do think that the first disc is slightly superior to the second. This is not even an insult to the second disc; it is just that the first is so damn good. Let's peruse through disc one's track listing: "Love's In Need Of Love Today," "Have A Talk With God," "Village Ghetto Land," "Confusion," "Sir Duke," "I Wish," "Knocks Me Off My Feet," "Pastime Paradise," "Summer Soft," and "Ordinary Pain." I will unequivocally assert that Songs In The Key Of Life disc one is the best disc Stevie Wonder ever put out. Better, even, than Innervisions. And the second disc really is SO good, but it does make the album feel a little superfluously long.
Before I go on, I think this is a great time to point out how much of an album purist--let's be real, snob--I am. Songs In The Key Of Life was originally released with 17 tracks. The special edition came with a four-track EP called A Something's Extra, but the CD version has those four tracks appended to the album itself. So, when I discovered this, I went onto my laptop and separated those four tracks from the album, labeled them A Something's Extra EP, and put a picture of the vinyl EP that was released in the special edition as the album cover. ALL TO PRESERVE THE SANCTITY OF THE ALBUM-FORM. In some ways, I am proud of myself. In others, horribly disgusted.
And now I feel bad. I don't want you guys to think that I don't like this album that much because of disc two. First of all, notice this is not a flashback feature. This is a current obsession of mine. I made a comment to my dad about how I thought Frank Ocean sounded vocally similar to Stevie Wonder and I realized that I had never listened to Songs In The Key Of Life front-to-back. Which is a heinous infraction because this album will probably find its way into my top 50. Disc one is distilled happiness and disc two feels like a still meaty bone to chew on that I know I will continue to draw significant doses of pleasure from long after the more poppy luster of disc one has become tarnished. With songs like "Isn't She Lovely," "Black Man," "As", and "Another Star," I know I will probably come back to this album just to hear disc two. The songs are longer and more tough like "Living For The City" from Innervisions. They are more jazzy. They have all the signs of longevity. So, in some ways, maybe Stevie Wonder did pull off a perfect double album. He showed us that there is a way to make an album where one disc is an "instant slam dunk," as my father so eloquently put it, and the other is more of a grower, all without making a dramatic stylistic saltation.
I would describe the White Album as a perfect double album. Controversially enough, I would describe Reflektor by Arcade Fire as a perfect double album. Songs In The Key Of Life comes really really really really painfully close to perfection, but I do think that the first disc is slightly superior to the second. This is not even an insult to the second disc; it is just that the first is so damn good. Let's peruse through disc one's track listing: "Love's In Need Of Love Today," "Have A Talk With God," "Village Ghetto Land," "Confusion," "Sir Duke," "I Wish," "Knocks Me Off My Feet," "Pastime Paradise," "Summer Soft," and "Ordinary Pain." I will unequivocally assert that Songs In The Key Of Life disc one is the best disc Stevie Wonder ever put out. Better, even, than Innervisions. And the second disc really is SO good, but it does make the album feel a little superfluously long.
Before I go on, I think this is a great time to point out how much of an album purist--let's be real, snob--I am. Songs In The Key Of Life was originally released with 17 tracks. The special edition came with a four-track EP called A Something's Extra, but the CD version has those four tracks appended to the album itself. So, when I discovered this, I went onto my laptop and separated those four tracks from the album, labeled them A Something's Extra EP, and put a picture of the vinyl EP that was released in the special edition as the album cover. ALL TO PRESERVE THE SANCTITY OF THE ALBUM-FORM. In some ways, I am proud of myself. In others, horribly disgusted.
And now I feel bad. I don't want you guys to think that I don't like this album that much because of disc two. First of all, notice this is not a flashback feature. This is a current obsession of mine. I made a comment to my dad about how I thought Frank Ocean sounded vocally similar to Stevie Wonder and I realized that I had never listened to Songs In The Key Of Life front-to-back. Which is a heinous infraction because this album will probably find its way into my top 50. Disc one is distilled happiness and disc two feels like a still meaty bone to chew on that I know I will continue to draw significant doses of pleasure from long after the more poppy luster of disc one has become tarnished. With songs like "Isn't She Lovely," "Black Man," "As", and "Another Star," I know I will probably come back to this album just to hear disc two. The songs are longer and more tough like "Living For The City" from Innervisions. They are more jazzy. They have all the signs of longevity. So, in some ways, maybe Stevie Wonder did pull off a perfect double album. He showed us that there is a way to make an album where one disc is an "instant slam dunk," as my father so eloquently put it, and the other is more of a grower, all without making a dramatic stylistic saltation.
FLASHBACK: Achtung Baby by U2
For a moment, I am no longer a high school graduate with an Associate's Degree working towards a Bachelor's. I am not fumbling back and forth between my job and my iPod. I am still living with my mom and I am a Sophomore in high school. I have next to no friends and most of the friends I have are not people (hint: They're albums). I am going through arguably the worst relationship of my life. Oh, yeah. And I was OBSESSED with U2.
As a sophomore, I made a list of my favourite artists, and though I do not remember all of them, I do remember that the top four were The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Velvet Underground, and U2, respectively. U2 was at fucking four, at the time. Here in 2015, I would probably put them in my top 50. Maybe. It is not impossible. However, at the time, U2 was my world. I lived and breathed U2. If you took me to a dark alley and told me to whisper my darkest secret, it would have been that U2 was actually my favourite band. I could listen to War when I was ticked off and then Joshua Tree or Zooropa to calm down. And even though all three of those albums have surely dropped out of my top 100 by now, there is one that I do not expect will ever fall even out of my top 50 and that is Achtung Baby.
Naturally, it was a sort of nostalgic happening (yes, that is an Unforgettable Fire joke) when I went and picked up a copy of The Unforgettable Fire today. I have never listened to it, actually. The only four that I have ever really eaten up are the four aforementioned. So, I popped in Achtung Baby.
Here is the thing about this album that I love. This album has the freshness of a debut with the expertise of an oldtimer. And that is because that is exactly what it is. U2 entirely deconstructed and rebuilt their sound for this album and produced what is, in my opinion, the only front-to-back great U2 album. Where Joshua Tree, War, and Zooropa all feel basically front-heavy, there is no such awkwardness to Achtung Baby. Every song on the album brings something new to the table and, despite a feeling of cohesion and unity, it is an eclectic record. With the post-punk, rough-around-The-Edge quality guitar work and the smooth arena rock that they had come to master on their previous albums married with their new found electronic harshness, the album comes off as a forceful and stunning statement. Even today, two years after my U2 obsession, I can rock out to this album like I am hearing it for the first time. This album--not Joshua Tree--is their apotheosis.
Withstood The Test Of Time: The whole album, but mostly "Zoo Station," "The Fly," "Mysterious Ways," and"Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World."
As a sophomore, I made a list of my favourite artists, and though I do not remember all of them, I do remember that the top four were The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Velvet Underground, and U2, respectively. U2 was at fucking four, at the time. Here in 2015, I would probably put them in my top 50. Maybe. It is not impossible. However, at the time, U2 was my world. I lived and breathed U2. If you took me to a dark alley and told me to whisper my darkest secret, it would have been that U2 was actually my favourite band. I could listen to War when I was ticked off and then Joshua Tree or Zooropa to calm down. And even though all three of those albums have surely dropped out of my top 100 by now, there is one that I do not expect will ever fall even out of my top 50 and that is Achtung Baby.
Naturally, it was a sort of nostalgic happening (yes, that is an Unforgettable Fire joke) when I went and picked up a copy of The Unforgettable Fire today. I have never listened to it, actually. The only four that I have ever really eaten up are the four aforementioned. So, I popped in Achtung Baby.
Here is the thing about this album that I love. This album has the freshness of a debut with the expertise of an oldtimer. And that is because that is exactly what it is. U2 entirely deconstructed and rebuilt their sound for this album and produced what is, in my opinion, the only front-to-back great U2 album. Where Joshua Tree, War, and Zooropa all feel basically front-heavy, there is no such awkwardness to Achtung Baby. Every song on the album brings something new to the table and, despite a feeling of cohesion and unity, it is an eclectic record. With the post-punk, rough-around-The-Edge quality guitar work and the smooth arena rock that they had come to master on their previous albums married with their new found electronic harshness, the album comes off as a forceful and stunning statement. Even today, two years after my U2 obsession, I can rock out to this album like I am hearing it for the first time. This album--not Joshua Tree--is their apotheosis.
Withstood The Test Of Time: The whole album, but mostly "Zoo Station," "The Fly," "Mysterious Ways," and"Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World."
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