Music From Space!

There you go.

--D

Evil Cowards, Covered In Gas

Evil Cowards is a side project of Mr. Dick Valentine, singer/mastermind for Electric Six. Released in early 2008, it was better, funnier, and more engaging than the last couple Electric Six albums, and preceded their fine return to form on Zodiac by only about six months. Evil Cowards isn’t all that different from E6. More of a focus on electronic music and production, but the guitars are still there, and most importantly, the hilarious lyrics and deadpan delivery are still there. But several of these songs allow Valentine to get really weird in ways he doesn’t in his day job, and the results are fantastic. “Classon Ave. Robots” is one of my favorite songs from any project Valentine has ever been a part of, alongside “I’m Not Scared of Flying Saucers,” “You Really Like Me,” and “Love Pigs.” There’s allegedly a new Evil Cowards album coming soon, and I can’t wait.

Evil Cowards, “I’m Not Scared of Flying Saucers”

Many clips from this live show, in which they lip sync the album while doing ridiculous dance routines, are on youtube. You should watch them.

Tom Waits, Blue Valentine

Blue Valentine is something of a transitional record for Tom Waits. It comes a few years before the watershed of Swordfishtrombones, the moment when the old barfly spinning gin-soaked tales in smokey backrooms gave way to the mysterious, adventurous sage and soothsayer that is modern Waits. Tonally, Blue Valentine is more of a piece with his early material, but the intrumentation has changed, and Waits’ voice is well on its way from his old, more traditional way of singing to the unmistakable, love it or hate it voice we associate with him. The record kicks off with a singular take on West Side Story’s “Somewhere” before diving into a series of richly detailed, engrossing story songs from many points of view. Especially for a collection of songs clearly between paradigms, it’s remarkable that it’s a smooth, coherent listen, not awkward at all. Just a great record.

Tom Waits, “A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun”

Doogie, Yeahbrahcadabra

Somewhere in the West Bank of New Orleans, there lives a puppet named Doogie. He’s the creation of local rappers Ballzack & Odoms, voiced by Odoms. He starred in some successful internet videos and released an EP of music, but this was his debut album. It is steeped in New Orleans hip hop traditions, with the local bounce sound dominating the production (Which is sharper than ever for a Ballzack or Odoms production), giving Doogie a lively atmosphere over which to brag about his grades in school, brag about his rap skills, tell the ladies who they need to get with, and tell a story about body-switching with his Dad. you’d never expect a record by a puppet to be this entertaining.

Doogie, “Yeahbrahcadabra”

Faith No More, Introduce Yourself

Sometimes I wonder what it was like to be a Faith No More fan when Mike Patton came aboard. There’s no argument that Patton is a far more exciting and accomplished vocalist than the departing Chuck Mosley, but at the same time, he was what Faith No More vocals were supposed to sound like for two whole records. Like a lot of people, I guess, I’d heard “We Care A Lot” and thought it was funny, but didn’t really pay much attention to the band until “Epic.” But I bet there’s people out there that really resent the addition of Patton. Maybe swore off the band over it. And that’s hilarious. Nevertheless, Introduce Yourself is a pretty great record. Chuck Mosely doesn’t exactly have a a lot of range, but he’s an entertaining front man, and this, the 2nd Faith No More album (Mosley’s last) has the sound and production quality fully in place for the coming of the band’s more lasting legacy. A superior version of “We Care A Lot” is here, but there’s plenty of other songs that are worthy parts of the overall Faith No More legacy, too. I am a big fan of the title track.

Faith No More, “Introduce Yourself”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgAB7Gd0ENg

There you go.

--D

02/27 – 03/02:

Desk Ark, Don't Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker!

A very interesting record. A study in contrast and contradiction. Emotionally gripping. Pretty much tailor made for my ears. Des Ark put funny titles on serious music. They play fragile, haunting melodies that give way to raucous rock music and then recede again, like a wave. The vocals seem intentionally obscured much of the time, delivering extremely personal stories in a hushed whisper or buried in the mix, which only make the frequent huge choruses and chants that more powerful, while making the listener turn it up and play the record again immediately. The whole album must be taken together, with recurring themes both musical and lyrical and the end of one song blurring into the beginning of another. This is a record that really engages you.

Des Ark, “Bonne Chance, Asshole”

De La Soul, De La Soul Is Dead

De La Soul’s second album was an odd choice on their part. Also, one of the finest hip hop albums of the era. But on this record, they seemed to mock and refute the “Daisy Age” peace and love mentality they turned into a brief phenomenon with their debut, 3 Feet High & Rising. This album is framed by a series of skits where some kids find the album itself in the trash, and then some bullies make them play it, hating it. The cover of the album is a knocked over flower pot full of daisies. It would seem a shocking about face for any group. The songs themselves seem to take the stance that everything they were talking about on the first album is played out, maybe overreacting to criticism of its sort of neo hippie mentality. But the album they replaced the Daisy Age with is at least as engaging, a sprawling, experimental record with some of the silliest songs they would ever record, some of the most serious songs they would ever record, and everything in between. Prince Paul keeps the production as diverse and unpredictable as the group’s ambitions, and they get in one of the last great sampled hip hop albums before the law caught up with the genre. From serious topics like sexual abuse and drug addiction to ridiculous nonsense dissing house music and overeager up and comers to a weird little play about relationships set in a Burger King to straight up party songs (Including one of my all-time favorite songs by anybody, “A Rollerskating Jam Named ‘Saturdays’”), there’s nothing they wouldn’t try here. It’s the De La album I revisit the most, for sure.

De La Soul, “Keepin’ The Faith”

Elvis Costello & The Attractions, This Year's Model

My favorite Elvis Costello record, hands down. His 2nd, and his most punk-influenced for sure, This Year’s Model is a pure burst of energy from start to finish. Elvis at his most vicious and sarcastic, excellent performances, some of his most memorable songs... it’s just a can’t miss package.

Elvis Costello, “No Action”

Public Enemy, Yo! Bum Rush The Show

It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back is held up as the PE classic, and for good reason. It’s the best expression of their politics, the best example of the Bomb Squad’s wall of noise, it deserves its place as a classic. But in all honesty, I think I might personally prefer their debut. There’s a lot less political content. I mean, obviously, the politics are as integral to Public Enemy as anything, but it’s fun and almost refreshing to hear Chuck D just talking about his car, in a way. It’s just a consistent, fun album from a group that would go on to be a lot more. And there’s still a lot of social and political content, it’s just not presented with that all-consuming focus that would come later. It’s a unique album in their catalog.

Public Enemy, “You’re Gonna Get Yours”

At The Drive-In, Acrobatic Tenement

This album’s always kind of amused me. It sounds like they recorded a whole record without realizing they forgot to hit their distortion pedals. It’s got all the signature elements of ATDI, the screaming and the manic energy mixed with more tender moments that still manage to sound kind of ragged, the album would fit right in with their catalog... except for the clean guitars throughout. I’m not really sure what they were going for. If it happened live, I’d assume it was a mistake, but... here it is. I actually like this album a lot, weird or not. Here’s hoping the band’s long-hoped-for reunion is more than just a concert or two.

At the Drive-In, “Initiation”

Outkast, ATLiens

My introduction to Outkast was “Elevators (Me And You).” I won’t pretend I was on board from the beginning, dear reader, I was but a high school student in a podunk town. But “Elevators” made it to my local hip hop station, and that was all the incentive I needed to check this group out. I’ve been on board ever since. And, yeah, Outkast has come to be known for their ambition and their “weirdness,” I guess, which wouldn’t really being until the next record, but there’s still plenty to love on their first two albums. ATLiens is wall-to-wall great songs, virtuosos rapping and crowd-pleasing choruses. I still love it.

Outkast, “Elevators (Me & You)”

Al Green, Call Me

It doesn’t get much better than classic-era Al Green. With long time producer Willie Mitchell, he made some of the finest soul songs ever made by anybody. Those rolling drums, those perfectly-timed horn hits, and Green’s undeniable voice tying it all together. The most insane thing is the vast majority of his famous songs were recording between 1971 and 1975, a period when he produced seven albums(!). Prolific is an understatement. Call Me comes right in the middle of that flurry of activity. It features the essential hits “You Oughta Be With Me,” “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”, and the title track, but it has a lot more to offer beyond the hits. Green displays his range with masterful conversions of two classic country songs into R&B numbers (“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Funny How Time Slips Away”). Album cuts “Have You Been Making Out OK” and “Stand Up” could easily have been hits in their own right. The sheer amount of quality material Green & Mitchell turned out in their golden era is staggering.

Al Green, “Have You Been Making Out OK?”

Cecil Otter, False Hopes 7

False Hopes is an on-going series of material from Doomtree. Alone or as a collective, they self-release these records. I’m not sure if they’re supposed to “count,” as opposed to records with their own name, but they should, because a ton of great stuff has been released under the False Hopes banner, and this is no exception. People who know Cecil from recent Doomtree material or his excellent Rebel Yellow album are in for a surprise from the stylistic difference on display here. His delivery is a lot more brash and sarcastic, more exuberant. More alone the lines of POS or Sims, in fact. This difference is most striking on “Matchbook Diaries,” a far more somber version of which appeared on Rebel Yellow. But different isn’t a bad thing, and there’s a lot to love in the more fiery Cecil Otter of old. In all honesty, I tend to go for this one more often, just because it’s not as heavy a listen.

Cecil Otter, “Lake Shore Drifter”

There you go.

--D

Batman Forever soundtrack

I have a weird fascination with this record. It functions as a remarkably inclusive snapshot of music in 1995. Really! Consider the track list:

U2, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"

PJ Harvey, "One Time Too Many"

Brandy, "Where Are You Now?"

Seal, "Kiss from a Rose"

Massive Attack with Tracy Thorn, "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"

Eddie Reader, "Nobody Lives Without Love"

Mazzy Star, "Tell Me Now"

The Offspring, "Smash It Up"

Nick Cave, "There Is a Light"

Method Man, "The Riddler"

Michael Hutchence, "The Passenger"

The Devlins, "Crossing the River"

Sunny Day Real Estate, "8"

The Flaming Lips, "Bad Days"

So, you got U2, enjoying the beginning of their renaissance at the time, whose song from this record was a big hit. You have Seal contributing one of the most successful pop songs of the year (maybe the decade). You have then very popular Brandy singing a song written and played on by then very popular Lenny Kravitz. 1995’s radio is well represented.

Digging a little deeper, Offspring’s cover of The Damned represent the mid-90s punk revival. Massive Attack’s Smokey Robinson cover represents the flourishing trip hop scene, with guest vocalist Tracey Thorn, whose main gig, Everything But The Girl, had one of the biggest “alternative” hits of the year. Speaking of alternative music, Mazzy Star is another big name from the era, joined by relative newcomers The Flaming Lips and stalwarts PJ Harvey and Nick Cave. Hip hop is underrepresented with just a Method Man song, but in 1995, Method Man was the breakout star of the relatively new Wu-Tang Clan, and rapidly becoming one of the biggest rappers in the country. Even Sunny Day Real Estate is in there, representing the nascent emocore movement. Who would possibly expect Sunny Day Real Estate to appear on the soundtrack to a Batman movie?

If you had to make a time capsule of the musical landscape of 1995, your work is done immediately. Just make a copy of this.

Aesop Rock, Bazooka Tooth

Aesop Rock’s 2nd album for Def Jux really upped the ante. Behind that weird cover by the fantastic illustrator Tomer Hanuka (I love it when people I like work together) are some of the densest, most dizzying productions Ace has ever been associated with, and lyrics that rise to the occasion. Coming off the decidedly less chaotic (but no less great) sounds of the sample heavy Labor Days and the more minimal Float, this thing was the sonic equivalent of an explosion. It was so weird and offkilter that it apparently caused some tension between Aesop and then-labelmate Vast Aire, even. Aesop backed off of the schizophrenic sound and pacing of this album on subsequent material, but controversies aside, it’s a truly engaging record that demands many listens to get its full measure.

Aesop Rock, “No Jumper Cables”

Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend

I think the people have turned on these guys. But when this album came out, it was a bright spot in a bland period for music that year. Not much going on, and along comes this bright, catchy thing. It wasn’t the most exciting, the most innovative, the most meaningful record, and I coulda done with a lot less lyrical content specific to going to college in Boston, but it was fun to listen to. Sometimes, that’s enough.

Vampire Weekend, “M79”

Craig Finn, Clear Heart Full Eyes

Speaking of fun to listen to... not so much, this. It’s actually much more different from The Hold Steady, Finn’s regular gig, than I expected. The instrumentation and arrangements of the songs are far removed from the... I sort of want to say “classicist rock” sound of their albums. Stripped down, with doses of country and folk styling and a much more spare production feel, it also features a different lyrical content than The Hold Steady. Finn’s stories obsessed with drug and alcohol abuse, initially a hold over from his previous group, Lifter Puller, have given way to a lyrical focus more on a nostalgic devotion to rock music itself on recent records, but none of that is really present on Clear Heart Full Eyes. The material presented here feels at once more personal and autobiographical but also abstracted. For example, religious imagery has been a staple of his work, and an obsession with Jesus winds through the songs, but in a way that makes it hard to tell if Finn even believes in Jesus in the first place. It's the lyrics that prove the album's undoing for me. There is a lot of repetition in the 11 track running time, and while repetition isn't bad in and of itself, in this case it makes the album feel kind of slight. The repeated themes and phrases from song to song don't help this feeling of running in circles. All in all, a frustrating listen.

Craig Finn, “No Future”

Dirty Projectors + Bjork, Mount Wittenberg Orca

This wacky team-up is based on a live performance by the two entities of a set of music written by Dirty Projectors mastermind David Longstreth in 2009. If you know much about The Dirty Projectors and Bjork, it's basically everything you expect. They can't resist adding Bjork's voice to the exquisite chorus that has become The Dirty Projectors' most powerful weapon a few times, and the results are delightful. But, of course, she also steps forward for lead vocals often, and in that role she operates much like she always does. Longstreth also handles leads vocals a few times, while at other times the chorus of Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian and Haley Dekle take center stage. The things they can do together remain spectacular. Certainly less accessible than The Dirty Projectors' last album, but probably more accessible than recent material from Bjork, Mount Wittenberg Orca is an exciting experiment.

Dirty Projectors + Bjork, “On And Ever Onward”

There you go.

--D

02/13 – 02/17:

Glass Rock, Baby Baby Baby

Glass Rock is a band I found purely at random one time on eMusic. Glass Rock emerged from two other bands, Tall Firs and Soft Location, combining forces. This is their 2nd album. On their first, they had a real talent for creating mood and atmosphere, but the actual songs didn’t stand out as much as they could. Here, they’ve kept all that mysterious feeling and applied it to songs with a little more unique personality, and it’s a fine upgrade. The album’s highlight, a song in two parts called “Documentary,” begins as a sparse, intimate tune before leaping into a full-band, full-sound take that is the best song they’ve recorded so far. Glass Rock is music for after hours, winding down after a crazy night.

Glass Rock, “Runaway”

Himanshu, Nehru Jackets

Ani Difranco, Which Side Are You On?

I feel weird to suggest that having a baby had a profound effect on Ani Difranco's music, but it really seems like the case. I certainly understand how having a child would change your attitudes or priorities, but I would expect that to manifest in the lyrics, in new things to sing about. But the change in her music isn't just what she sings, it's how she sings, how she composes, how she thinks of her albums.

She's only released 2 records since becoming a mom, and just like Red Letter Year, this one is a scattershot effort, dipping into a new musical genre on every track, generally happy and hopeful instead of your traditional Ani moody and worried and angry. Her post-baby music isn't afraid to have big production values and over-the-top arrangements, to carene from sound to sound in a way that pre-baby Ani never would've done. Her music could be very different from album to album, but not from song to song. Every album was a pretty unified musical statement. Post-baby Ani seems to be going with every impulse that comes her way. It makes for enjoyable songs, and surprising, but not necessarily great, albums. Which Side Are You On? isn't quite as bubbly and happy as Red Letter Year, but... the difference is pretty negligible. The title track feels a bit like a rehash of a political song on her final pre-baby album, the mostly soul crushing, heartbroken Reprieve... only polished up and made less depressing. Even when she's singing a song about politics, women's roles in society, subjects that have always been close to her heart, she just seems so much less... worried about it. It's a weird transformation, indeed. She's released music as a young woman and a mature woman, in straight and homosexual relationships, married and divorced, under Presidents she liked and Presidents she hated, but nothing seems to have had the impact on her entire way of thinking and working that her child has.

Maybe it just boils down to the opening lyrics of the swinging, horn-and-fuzzed-out-guitar-driven "If Yr Not:" "If you're not getting happy as you get older, you're fuckin' up."

Ani Difranco, “Which Side Are You On?”

Protest The Hero, Kezia

Protest the Hero’s first album was ambitious, invigorating, and spectacular. Mixing metal, prog, punk and even folk influences, presenting a surprisingly effective concept album, and showing off serious musical chops, it’s as strong a debut as you could ask for from a band. In later releases, they would pare down the stylistic mishmash and get to really exploring a prog-metal sound, but here it seems that no idea is out of bounds, and that kind of reckless abandon is infectious.

Protest The Hero, “Heretics & Killers”

D'Angelo, Voodoo

As I write this (Faaaar in the paaaast), I just saw footage from D’Angelo playing in Paris, and it sure is nice to hope he’s finally worked out all his stuff and decided to get back to making music. This album was one of the strongest in the sea of amazing Soulquarians-related releases in the late 90s and early 2000s. Packed with layers, nuances and surprises, with intentionally vague vocals that demand a replay, this album was a puzzle waiting to be put together, and it was rewarding to do so. I guess a lot of peoples’ experience with it begins and ends with the “Untitled” video (Which caused a co-worker of mine at the time to begin excitedly referring to D’Angelo as “The buck-naked-est man!!”), but that’s just scratching the surface of what this album had to offer. Questlove seems pretty confident that it will finally get a follow up this year. I can’t wait.

D’Angelo, “Devil’s Pie”

Lazerbeak, Lava Bangers

Lazerbeak, one of the producers of the mighty Doomtree collective, releases his first beat tape. This package apparently brings together a variety of work that never quite made it onto past Doomtree releases, which have been turned into a continuous mix by DJ Plain Ol’ Bill. Beak’s productions come in a dizzying variety when working with his Doomtree compatriots, from somber, spare tunes to songs that can tear the house down, but here he mostly focuses on keeping the party going. I love instrumental hip hop (All hail DJ Shadow’s early work in that area, and Doomtree member Paper Tiger, too), beat tapes usually don’t get much play from me. Because, as good as the music may be, it tends to sound like what it is, what it was designed for: background music for vocals that never come. Much credit to Lazerbeak, then, for making these 20 tracks as entertaining and exciting on their own as they would be with vocals. I can’t even imagine them with vocals, in fact, so well do they work as presented. Doomtree wins again.

Lazerbeak, “Walk It Out”

Rancid, Rancid 2000

Rancid chose to follow their most experimental album with their most hardcore, taking a large portion of their fanbase by surprise and making me the happiest clam. Rancid 2000 found them operating at blistering speed, producing their most frenetic and intense music to date. But even in that arena, they were able to bring plenty of variety (something aided by having 3 very different singers in the band). From vicious assaults to nigh-on pop tunes that just happen to be really fast, there’s all kinds of material whipping past you in this record’s brief running time, and it is glorious. My favorite of their albums, no question.

There you go.

--D

Mehuggah, Obzen

Art is subjective, and descriptions of art are even worse, and descriptions of the notoriously sub-sub-sub-sub-genred heavy metal world, even moreso. The labyrinth of what you’re supposed to call heavy metal bands, how you’re supposed to describe them, is so ridiculous that I’ve never even felt qualified to talk about it. I would say that Obzen is one of the heaviest albums I’ve ever heard. Maybe some one with a higher heavy metal acumen would find that laughable, I don’t know. It’s just all relative. Obzen isn’t the most “evil” or the darkest metal album, but its power lies in its relentless, factory-like precision. Not a moment’s respite is offered from their assault until the very last song. Whether you’re listening to black metal, death metal, hardcore or metalcore, or even previous Meshuggah albums, there’s usually a reprieve. A change in tone or attitude, a soaring guitar solo, a spooky atmosphereic part, some kind of interlude, some kind of brief moments surfacing before plunging back into the ocean, but not here. Obzen just starts pummeling you and doesn’t stop until several minutes into closer “Dancers To A Discordant System.” It’s really something. And it’s not to say that there’s no variety on it. Opener “Combustion” lives up to its name, delivering the fastest song they’ve recorded in years. “Bleed” is almost 8 minutes of spectacular, robot-like precision. There’s many different approaches on display. But none of them let up for even a second.

Meshuggah, “Combustion”

Trap Them, Darker Handcraft

Trap Them’s 3rd full-length was produced by Converge’s Kurt Ballou. I can’t imagine that’s the only reason it sounds a lot more like Converge than past Trap Them albums, but I’m sure it contributed. Darker Handcraft continues the theoretical plot that has woven through every Trap Them album and EP (and even a 7” split), but just as they’ve remained dedicated to their concept, they’ve remained pretty dedicated to not really explaining it. Every song on every release is named with a day (Track one of the new album is “Day 46: Damage Prose”), but starting with their 2nd album, the days aren’t even in order. It doesn’t really matter. It’s enough to just get your adrenaline pumping with their super-fast, super-aggressive mix of punk and metal and enjoy the ride, and Darker Handcraft certainly delivers on that front. Also, the chorus to “The Facts” seems like an answer to the chorus of the classic Misfits song “Where Eagles Dare.” Who knows why, but that’s pretty awesome.

Trap Them, “The Facts”

Opeth, Heritage

Mikael has often joked that, going in to record the first Opeth album in 1995, he thought he was going to be a minstrel, playing a lute and singing ridiculously pretentious songs. Heritage, shockingly enough, seems to be as close as he’s gotten to getting his wish.

Opeth has quietly stopped being a metal band.

It still sounds like Opeth. The unique sound they’ve cultivated over the years is still identifiable. But in the prog rock influences, in some of the acoustic passages, and in the guitar solos. There’s no metal anything to be heard. I’ve listened to this over and over and I’m still not sure what I think of it, exactly. I’ve come to the decision the production bugs me more than the lack of metal, especially when it comes to drums. The bass drum sounds muffled and is actually hard to hear sometimes, and the rest of the drums sound pretty flat. But, beyond the production, there’s a sort of... over the top feeling to a lot of it. Almost like they’re trying too hard. I’m not sure what I’m even trying to say. It’s just so proggy and so noodly sometimes. Sometimes it’s not. They were wise to make “The Devil’s Orchard” the lead single, as it’s the most “Opeth sounding” song on the album. For the most part, I think I have favorite moments instead of songs. It’s a hard thing to adjust to.

Mikael Akerfeldt has been doing this for 20 years. No one can be metal forver. You either evolve into something else or become an embarrassing cartoon of yourself like Ozzy. In the DVD accompanying this release, Mikael said he thought that going in this direction would mean he “still had something to offer.” He also said he wasn’t ruling out metal elements in the future, and that he hoped not to repeat Heritage on the next album. Who knows, their next one may win me right back over. Their 11th album is the first one that didn’t completely enthrall me. That’s still a pretty spectacular track record. And I’m going to keep listening... trying to figure it out...

St. Vincent, Actor

It’s weird listening to this album in the wake of Strange Mercy. Actor captivated me. The complex layers and layers, the atmosphere and emotion (both extremely emotional and extremely reserved, from song to song, moment to moment, but always to dramatic effect), and of course Annie Clark’s phenomenal voice lilting over it all. It was a lot to take in, and a delight to revisit often. But I have to say, Strange Mercy basically blew it out of the water. I became sort of obsessed with it, listening to it all the time. Strange Mercy took everything I liked about Actor, amped it up and added a new focus on Clark’s jagged, funky guitar playing. This was the first time I’d listened to Actor since Strange Mercy came out, and it just didn’t seem to pack the punch of old. Maybe that’ll change as I gain distance from the new record.

St. Vincent, “Marrow”

There you go.

--D

Giant Drag, Hearts & Unicorns

I don’t know much about Giant Drag. I know they made a really fun record of the kind you know they’ll never duplicate. Some albums are very much a snapshot of a band at the time it was made. Furthermore, some are a snapshot of a young, sloppy, devil-may-care band making music for themselves, and the results of that can be magical... but you also know that they’ll mature, they’ll become better musicians, they’ll have bad times, and they will never make anything like that record again. Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Deftones spring to mind as examples. It’s not that their ensuing work was bad, it’s just that there was a particular kind of energy and an excitement in the beginning that simply cannot be sustained. Hearts & Unicorns is that kind of album. Unapologetically wacky, but also serious. It’s a good time.

Giant Drag, “Kevin Is Gay”

Idle Warship, Habits of the Heart

Habits of the Heart is the first official album by Idle Warship. Talib Kweli and Res have been Idle Warship for many years, touring, releasing a song here and there online, but never managing to release an album. In 2009 they got a full mixtape out, and in 2011, finally, a proper album. A lot of hip hop team-ups these days just sound like the artists heard the music, wrote some lyrics, and some one put their vocals over the music. So true collaborations like this, where the players interact, riff off each other, play characters together in the songs, and basically justify their pairing is rare and rewarding. The production is varied and adventurous. A handful of friends stop by to contribute (Including the always delightful Jean Grae). And Talib & Res do what they do best, together. It’s a great listen.

Idle Warship, “Laser Beams”

Mos Def, The Ecstatic

The Mighty Mos Def lived up to that name on The Ecstatic, an energized, engaging collection of songs. After the spectacular Blackstar album with Talib Kweli and the very good solo debut Black On Both Sides, Mos seemed to lose interest in rap. His second album was the billionth experiment in rap-rock that didn’t really pay off in the early 2000s. His 3rd album was a complete mess that neither he nor his record label supported. And during all that, he got much more into acting. I more or less thought it was over. So then The Ecstatic comes around and bowls me over. Mos sounds really passionate again, the mumbling delivery he adopted on his recent work disappeared. He was clearly fired up and ready to work again. The spirit (and voice and music) of Fela Kuti is all over this album, especially the undeniable groove of “Quiet Dog.” But for me, the highlight is the stunning “Casa Bey,” wherein Mos lets fly with some extremely complex lyrical timing over long samples of Banda Black Rio’s lively “Casa Forte.” Mos apparently liked the song a lot, too, having since taken the new stage name Yasiin Bey. This record completely restored my faith in Yasiin, and I cannot wait to hear the new Black Star album.

Mos Def, “Casa Bey”

Sleater-Kinney, Sleater-Kinney

The first Sleater-Kinney album and the last one have very little in common. Most bands that started out in some version of the hardcore movement (For S-K, the “Riot Grrrrl” branch) and managed to stay together for more than a couple of years underwent a pretty dramatic change. A lot of them went metal (and even hair metal). Black Flag infamously started making music intentionally trying to upset their fans. Sleater-Kinney slowly transformed into a fine sort of power pop band. I think most people with a passing familiarity with them wouldn’t even associate them with the kind of jagged, raw aggression on their self-titled album. But yo, it’s pretty great if you’re into that sort of thing. I am a fan of all the phases of the band’s career, but the pure energy and sloppy can-do attitude of this album is right up my alley.

Sleater-Kinney, “The Day I Went Away”

Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics EP

This one caught me off guard. I liked Surfer Blood’s debut album well enough. In this weird lo fi, surf rock kind of thing going on, they were least likely to ruin it with a bunch of fake lo fi distortion and nonsense. But this? This little EP just bowled me over. Super catchy, perfect songs, great playing, everything clicks. Left me wishing it was longer. It’s not revolutionary or life changing or any such lofty thing, it’s just really enjoyable music. That’s more than enough for me.

Surfer Blood, “Miranda”

There you go.

--D

Music From Space

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:48:12 -0800

Evil Cowards, Covered In Gas

Evil Cowards, “I’m Not Scared of Flying Saucers”

Many clips from this live show, in which they lip sync the album while doing ridiculous dance routines, are on youtube. You should watch them.

Tom Waits, Blue Valentine

Tom Waits, “A Sweet Little Bullet From A Pretty Blue Gun”

Doogie, Yeahbrahcadabra

Doogie, “Yeahbrahcadabra”

Faith No More, Introduce Yourself

Faith No More, “Introduce Yourself”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgAB7Gd0ENg

There you go.

--D

02/27 – 03/02:

Desk Ark, Don't Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker!

Des Ark, “Bonne Chance, Asshole”

De La Soul, De La Soul Is Dead

De La Soul, “Keepin’ The Faith”

Elvis Costello & The Attractions, This Year's Model

Elvis Costello, “No Action”

Public Enemy, Yo! Bum Rush The Show

Public Enemy, “You’re Gonna Get Yours”

At The Drive-In, Acrobatic Tenement

At the Drive-In, “Initiation”

Outkast, ATLiens

Outkast, “Elevators (Me & You)”

Al Green, Call Me

Al Green, “Have You Been Making Out OK?”

Cecil Otter, False Hopes 7

Cecil Otter, “Lake Shore Drifter”

There you go.

--D

Batman Forever soundtrack

I have a weird fascination with this record. It functions as a remarkably inclusive snapshot of music in 1995. Really! Consider the track list:

U2, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"

PJ Harvey, "One Time Too Many"

Brandy, "Where Are You Now?"

Seal, "Kiss from a Rose"

Massive Attack with Tracy Thorn, "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"

Eddie Reader, "Nobody Lives Without Love"

Mazzy Star, "Tell Me Now"

The Offspring, "Smash It Up"

Nick Cave, "There Is a Light"

Method Man, "The Riddler"

Michael Hutchence, "The Passenger"

The Devlins, "Crossing the River"

Sunny Day Real Estate, "8"

The Flaming Lips, "Bad Days"

If you had to make a time capsule of the musical landscape of 1995, your work is done immediately. Just make a copy of this.

Aesop Rock, Bazooka Tooth

Aesop Rock, “No Jumper Cables”

Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend, “M79”

Craig Finn, Clear Heart Full Eyes

Craig Finn, “No Future”

Dirty Projectors + Bjork, Mount Wittenberg Orca

Dirty Projectors + Bjork, “On And Ever Onward”

There you go.

--D

02/13 – 02/17:

Glass Rock, Baby Baby Baby

Glass Rock, “Runaway”

Himanshu, Nehru Jackets

Ani Difranco, Which Side Are You On?

Maybe it just boils down to the opening lyrics of the swinging, horn-and-fuzzed-out-guitar-driven "If Yr Not:" "If you're not getting happy as you get older, you're fuckin' up."

Ani Difranco, “Which Side Are You On?”

Protest The Hero, Kezia

Protest The Hero, “Heretics & Killers”

D'Angelo, Voodoo

D’Angelo, “Devil’s Pie”

Lazerbeak, Lava Bangers

Lazerbeak, “Walk It Out”

Rancid, Rancid 2000

There you go.

--D

Mehuggah, Obzen

Meshuggah, “Combustion”

Trap Them, Darker Handcraft

Trap Them, “The Facts”

Opeth, Heritage

Opeth has quietly stopped being a metal band.

St. Vincent, Actor

St. Vincent, “Marrow”

There you go.

--D

Giant Drag, Hearts & Unicorns

Giant Drag, “Kevin Is Gay”

Idle Warship, Habits of the Heart

Idle Warship, “Laser Beams”

Mos Def, The Ecstatic

Mos Def, “Casa Bey”

Sleater-Kinney, Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney, “The Day I Went Away”

Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics EP

Surfer Blood, “Miranda”

There you go.

--D

Ava Luna, Services/3rd Avenue Island

In 2010, Ava Luna released a 4-track EP called Services that I fell in love with. In 2011, Services got combined with 8 new songs and released as this. It’s a frustrating experience. I expect a band to grow and change. I have no interest in seeing a group do the same song over and over like Nickelback. And Ava Luna did seem to be wearing their influences on their sleeve on Services, instantly bringing to mind thoughts of The Dirty Projectors and TV On the Radio, among others. But the material on 3rd Avenue Island is such a stark contrast to the older songs that putting them together seems like a disservice to both. The transition from the dreamy, romantic material of Services to the more harsh, avant garde-sounding 3rd Avenue Island is awkward, to say the least. The stylistic progression would still be jarring regardless, but to try to make the two very different bodies of work a single statement was a mistake.

The 3rd Avenue Island material is indeed a huge shift in tone. It’s more dissonant, more ambiguous. It begins with what could only be called an outburst of sound, really in “We Were Young,” and goes on to try out all sorts of new sounds that leave the simple, seductive Services in the past. The biggest problem with the new material is the number thing. Services ended with a playful little song called “Eight Nine (Won’t You Be Mine?).” The song sounded almost like a playground rhyme invented for jumprope. It was fun and cute. 3rd Avenue Island turns that into a motif, adding “Six Seven (I Want To Hide Away),” "Four Five (I Will Survive),” and “(Do Me No Wrong) While I Am Gone” (which doesn’t have 1-2-3 in the title, but features them prominently in the lyrics) in that order. And the concept, whatever it is, doesn’t seem to connect the songs in any way except repeating the numbers in question, and seems to become more labored with each track.The non-stop repetition of “four-five, four-five” in that track’s backing vocals makes it hands down the least enjoyable track on the record, in fact. But more than that, it’s not even a rhyme scheme in the other songs like it was in the original, and most of the new songs in the set are pretty discordant and dark they have nothing to do with the first one. This gimmick went a long way to hurting my enjoyment of the record on repeat listens. I hate to come down so hard on it. I do like the new songs in spots, even the number songs. Ava Luna has a new album coming soon, and its lead single is wonderful, and I hope it will be more satisfying.

Ava Luna, “Clips”

Kool AD, The Palm Wine Drinkard mixtape

Oh, man, two downer reviews in a row. I’m pretty good at picking albums I’ll like before I buy/download/whatever them, and I’m pretty good at just not listening to the few things I don’t end up liking. But this was on while I worked... It’s your boy, Kool AD from Das Racist, and he’s back with a mixtape of... weird... spare stuff, apparently. Victor seems the more gifted rapper in Das Racist, and has some truly great verses to prove it. But you wouldn’t know it from listening to The Palm Wine Drinkard, a random assortment of weird mash-ups, repeated mantras and intrumentals that borrows its name from an acclaimed Nigerian novel. There’s not an actual verse of new lyrics on the whole thing. It begins with the intrumental to Outkast’s “Spottiottidopalicious” with various movie clips played over it before moving into songs where he just repeats a catcphrase or two over and over, prototypical early versions of Das Racist songs “Booty In The Air” and “You Can Sell Anything” with all the verses (And Heems) missing, two random cuts from his previous project, Boy Crisis, and some instrumentals he made. Nonsense is a big part of Das Racist’s appeal. That they can be completely absurd and smart at the same time. The smart part doesn’t really show up on this, though. It’s not entirely without merit. The Boy Crisis songs are both good, and “Fun” and “Flyin Through The Air Inna Air Plane” are pretty funny, if still very slight. But when you consider all his great music over the last few years, and that less than a week after this came out, Vic released a completely insane, nearly 10-minute tour de force called “Dum Diary” on youtube... you really have to wonder what he was thinking with this. I'd provide you a link to download it, but it was on Megaupload, and the Feds hamfistedly brought them down last week, so I can't. Meanwhile, I’m just going to link “Dum Diary,” because it’s awesome.

Kool AD, “Dum Diary”

Raekwon, Unexpected Victory

Released on January 1 just like The Palm Wine Drinkard, Rae gets the new year started off right. Unexpected Victory kicks off with some huge, dramatic production, but it meanders through more traditional Wu-style darkness, some stripped down raw beats, and a variety of other approaches as Rae and a list of guest stars do what they do best. Rae seems to be using this tape as a vehicle to promote Toronto rapper JD Era, recently signed to Rae’s Ice H20 label, as Era gets plenty of time on 5 tracks. He also shines a spotlight on newcomer Altrina Renae, and shares songs with stalwarts like CL Smooth, Styles P, and Busta Rhymes, among others. Raekwon himself is in fine form, consistently delivering the gritty storytelling fans demand of him. Raekwon mixtapes can sometimes be much more casual affairs than his official albums, but this one’s epic feel goes against that trend.Grab it here and check it out!

Raekwon with JD Era, “Just A Toast”

Amon Amarth, Surtur Rising

The latest fine offering of Norse myth-infused metal from the Norwegian heavyweights. This album is a natural progression from previous record Twilight Of the Thunder God in both style and subject matter. To my ear, they've been becoming more accessible recently, or as accessible as you can be in the mythological death metal biz, anyway, but unlike some people, I wouldn't call that a bad thing.

Amon Amarth, “War Of The Gods”

There you go.

--D

Music From Space

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:15:39 -0800

02/27 – 03/02:

Desk Ark, Don't Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker!

Des Ark, “Bonne Chance, Asshole”

De La Soul, De La Soul Is Dead

De La Soul, “Keepin’ The Faith”

Elvis Costello & The Attractions, This Year's Model

Elvis Costello, “No Action”

Public Enemy, Yo! Bum Rush The Show

Public Enemy, “You’re Gonna Get Yours”

At The Drive-In, Acrobatic Tenement

At the Drive-In, “Initiation”

Outkast, ATLiens

Outkast, “Elevators (Me & You)”

Al Green, Call Me

Al Green, “Have You Been Making Out OK?”

Cecil Otter, False Hopes 7

Cecil Otter, “Lake Shore Drifter”

There you go.

--D

Batman Forever soundtrack

I have a weird fascination with this record. It functions as a remarkably inclusive snapshot of music in 1995. Really! Consider the track list:

U2, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"

PJ Harvey, "One Time Too Many"

Brandy, "Where Are You Now?"

Seal, "Kiss from a Rose"

Massive Attack with Tracy Thorn, "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"

Eddie Reader, "Nobody Lives Without Love"

Mazzy Star, "Tell Me Now"

The Offspring, "Smash It Up"

Nick Cave, "There Is a Light"

Method Man, "The Riddler"

Michael Hutchence, "The Passenger"

The Devlins, "Crossing the River"

Sunny Day Real Estate, "8"

The Flaming Lips, "Bad Days"

If you had to make a time capsule of the musical landscape of 1995, your work is done immediately. Just make a copy of this.

Aesop Rock, Bazooka Tooth

Aesop Rock, “No Jumper Cables”

Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend, “M79”

Craig Finn, Clear Heart Full Eyes

Craig Finn, “No Future”

Dirty Projectors + Bjork, Mount Wittenberg Orca

Dirty Projectors + Bjork, “On And Ever Onward”

There you go.

--D

02/13 – 02/17:

Glass Rock, Baby Baby Baby

Glass Rock, “Runaway”

Himanshu, Nehru Jackets

Ani Difranco, Which Side Are You On?

Maybe it just boils down to the opening lyrics of the swinging, horn-and-fuzzed-out-guitar-driven "If Yr Not:" "If you're not getting happy as you get older, you're fuckin' up."

Ani Difranco, “Which Side Are You On?”

Protest The Hero, Kezia

Protest The Hero, “Heretics & Killers”

D'Angelo, Voodoo

D’Angelo, “Devil’s Pie”

Lazerbeak, Lava Bangers

Lazerbeak, “Walk It Out”

Rancid, Rancid 2000

There you go.

--D

Mehuggah, Obzen

Meshuggah, “Combustion”

Trap Them, Darker Handcraft

Trap Them, “The Facts”

Opeth, Heritage

Opeth has quietly stopped being a metal band.

St. Vincent, Actor

St. Vincent, “Marrow”

There you go.

--D

Giant Drag, Hearts & Unicorns

Giant Drag, “Kevin Is Gay”

Idle Warship, Habits of the Heart

Idle Warship, “Laser Beams”

Mos Def, The Ecstatic

Mos Def, “Casa Bey”

Sleater-Kinney, Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney, “The Day I Went Away”

Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics EP

Surfer Blood, “Miranda”

There you go.

--D

Ava Luna, Services/3rd Avenue Island

Ava Luna, “Clips”

Kool AD, The Palm Wine Drinkard mixtape

Kool AD, “Dum Diary”

Raekwon, Unexpected Victory

Raekwon with JD Era, “Just A Toast”

Amon Amarth, Surtur Rising

Amon Amarth, “War Of The Gods”

There you go.

--D

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Soul Time!

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings with the 11th hour jolt to my 2011 playlist! It’s rare for a good album to come out in the last few weeks of the year. It is traditionally seen as a time when labels dump product they know no one will buy. So I have no idea why the amazing sort-of-4th album by Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings came out at the tail end of 2011, but it was a fine Christmas gift for us. Comprised of mostly unreleased songs from the group’s live Soul Revue, Soul Time! is a funky powerhouse from the dependable soul music traditionalists. While previous album I Learned the Hard Way pulled slightly away from their winning mix of funky influences and into a more traditional R&B direction (Which still sounded like nothing else in modern soul music), this release brings the heat back in a big way, as Jones and her band burn their way through twelve funk workouts that would make James Brown proud. You can’t lose with this one.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, “What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?”

Tegan & Sara, The Con Demos

Another late entry into the 2011 music world, this album is just what it says. T&S had been offering this material at their live shows for some time, but for those of us unlucky enough to miss them on their last tour, it got an official wide release near the close of the year. It’s a fascinating collection. Some of the songs are fully formed even in their demo phase, sounding more or less as they did on the final album, while others are dramatically different in these early versions. It’s every song that made the album in the same sequence, so you can compare and contrast as much as you like. It’s a cool peak behind the curtain.

Tegan & Sara, “The Con (Demo)”

Clutch, Robot Hive/Exodus

The 2nd part of a mini-renaissance for Clutch, Robot Hive formalized the inclusion of a generous portion of blues into the band’s established heavy groove sound. Coming only a year after the spectacular Blast Tyrant, if anything, Robot Hive trumps it in so many ways. Both albums present a Clutch that seems more fired up and excited than they had in some time, but Robot Hive also finds them at their most adventurous, trying all sorts of stylistic experiments and succeeding every time. From the 70s rock influence in “The Incomparable Mr. Flannery” to the strange sideshow sound of “Circus Maximus” to the truly magnificent “Gravel Road,” which morphs from straight up blues song to raging Clutch perfection, they do it all here. I don’t think they have a more varied and surprising album in their catalog, and that makes it one of the most rewarding.

Clutch, “Gravel Road”

Jean Grae, This Week

Jean’s release of the new single “U+Me+Everyone We Know” prompted me to put this on. While she’s been making a lot of waves in the last couple of years with killer punchlines, battle raps and her singular personality, “U+Me” recalls the sometimes more introspective, serious Jean of This Week. There’s still plenty of braggadocio and humor on This Week, but as a loose concept album portraying a week in her life, the lyrics cover basically every emotional experience you can have in seven days. She has since found her way to much more exciting production to rap over, but its her lyricism and her honesty that make This Week work.

Jean Grae, “Supa Luv”

There you go.

--D

Music From Space

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:24:29 -0800

Batman Forever soundtrack

I have a weird fascination with this record. It functions as a remarkably inclusive snapshot of music in 1995. Really! Consider the track list:

U2, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"

PJ Harvey, "One Time Too Many"

Brandy, "Where Are You Now?"

Seal, "Kiss from a Rose"

Massive Attack with Tracy Thorn, "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"

Eddie Reader, "Nobody Lives Without Love"

Mazzy Star, "Tell Me Now"

The Offspring, "Smash It Up"

Nick Cave, "There Is a Light"

Method Man, "The Riddler"

Michael Hutchence, "The Passenger"

The Devlins, "Crossing the River"

Sunny Day Real Estate, "8"

The Flaming Lips, "Bad Days"

If you had to make a time capsule of the musical landscape of 1995, your work is done immediately. Just make a copy of this.

Aesop Rock, Bazooka Tooth

Aesop Rock, “No Jumper Cables”

Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend, “M79”

Craig Finn, Clear Heart Full Eyes

Craig Finn, “No Future”

Dirty Projectors + Bjork, Mount Wittenberg Orca

Dirty Projectors + Bjork, “On And Ever Onward”

There you go.

--D

02/13 – 02/17:

Glass Rock, Baby Baby Baby

Glass Rock, “Runaway”

Himanshu, Nehru Jackets

Ani Difranco, Which Side Are You On?

Maybe it just boils down to the opening lyrics of the swinging, horn-and-fuzzed-out-guitar-driven "If Yr Not:" "If you're not getting happy as you get older, you're fuckin' up."

Ani Difranco, “Which Side Are You On?”

Protest The Hero, Kezia

Protest The Hero, “Heretics & Killers”

D'Angelo, Voodoo

D’Angelo, “Devil’s Pie”

Lazerbeak, Lava Bangers

Lazerbeak, “Walk It Out”

Rancid, Rancid 2000

There you go.

--D

Mehuggah, Obzen

Meshuggah, “Combustion”

Trap Them, Darker Handcraft

Trap Them, “The Facts”

Opeth, Heritage

Opeth has quietly stopped being a metal band.

St. Vincent, Actor

St. Vincent, “Marrow”

There you go.

--D

Giant Drag, Hearts & Unicorns

Giant Drag, “Kevin Is Gay”

Idle Warship, Habits of the Heart

Idle Warship, “Laser Beams”

Mos Def, The Ecstatic

Mos Def, “Casa Bey”

Sleater-Kinney, Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney, “The Day I Went Away”

Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics EP

Surfer Blood, “Miranda”

There you go.

--D

Ava Luna, Services/3rd Avenue Island

Ava Luna, “Clips”

Kool AD, The Palm Wine Drinkard mixtape

Kool AD, “Dum Diary”

Raekwon, Unexpected Victory

Raekwon with JD Era, “Just A Toast”

Amon Amarth, Surtur Rising

Amon Amarth, “War Of The Gods”

There you go.

--D

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Soul Time!

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, “What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?”

Tegan & Sara, The Con Demos

Tegan & Sara, “The Con (Demo)”

Clutch, Robot Hive/Exodus

Clutch, “Gravel Road”

Jean Grae, This Week

Jean Grae, “Supa Luv”

There you go.

--D

El-P, I'll Sleep When You're Dead

El’s first solo outing, Fantastic Damage, was one of the densest productions you could find in hip hop. For his 2nd album, he smoothed it out a little bit. The paranoid, dark tone that is the backbone of his style remains in place, but the tracks have a little more room to breathe and simmer in the atmosphere. With a fantastic and varied guest list, consistent and memorable production and great songs, this album may not have been as frantic, but was at least as powerful.

Lakutis, I'm In The Forest EP

Lakutis, Das Racist’s associate who had a few scene-stealing verses in songs like “Amazing” and “Swate,” makes his solo debut with this free EP. The production, much of it by other DR associate Big Baby Gandhi, is frenetic and paranoid, and perfectly suited to Lakutis’ manic delivery. With rap catchphrases like “I’m a death shark,” “Oops,” and “I’m dead,” Lakutis is pretty out of the ordinary, but who else is going to clue you into the Seven Spiders of Hip Hop? Face it: you need Lakutis in your life. Get the EP here.

Lakutis, “Death Shark”

Prince, Sign O' The Times

Something very specific inspired me to listen to this, but that was a month ago, and I can’t remember what it was now. I think I heard a cover or sample from it or something. Ah, well, any excuse to listen to the sprawling masterpiece of Prince’s career is a good one. I find it curious that Sign O’ The Times doesn’t have “the hits.” Much like Stevie Wonder’s Music Of My Mind or The Rolling Stones Exile On Main Street, it’s a classic, well-regarded album, possibly the artist’s crowning achievement, but if you only know Prince from listening to the radio (presumably back when listening to the radio wasn’t such a bad idea), you might not know anything on it. I seem to recall “Hot Thing” being on the radio, maybe. Regardless, this is every Prince you ever liked. Sexy dance music Prince, subdued romantic ballad Prince, overdramatic Prince, and goofy, “what the hell is he doing?” Prince, all the aspects of his body of work are represented in fine form on Sign O’ The Times. One time he was on Muppets Tonight, that lesser known successor to The Muppet Show, as “The Artist...” and did “Starfish & Coffee” with Muppets. Hard to top that.

Prince, “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker” (It’s nigh impossible to find a studio version of any Prince song on youtube. I just gave up)

Electric Six, Heartbeats & Brainwaves

The release of a new Electric Six album is cause for celebration. It is, in fact, the soundtrack to its own celebration. Heartbeats & Brainwaves is a more synth-driven album, taking the dance rock we’ve come to depend on and turning down the “rock” part a little. The result is more akin to 2nd album Senior Smoke than most of their catalog: glorious, bombastic, even catchier than usual. And lyrically, Dick Valentine really brought it this time, delivering some of the Six’s more absurd, delightful songs to date in songs like “Gridlock!,” “It Gets Hot,” and “Food Dog.” Electric Six songs that get really excited about mundane events tend to be homeruns, and “Free Samples” is no exception. It’s about getting free samples. Even moody opener “Psychic Visions” offers plenty of fun. The whole album is a great time from start to finish. The first three Electric Six albums are far and away the best, and a big part of that for me is they all sound different. The first is really rock oriented, the second more dance-based, and the third stretched out and tried some new genres. After that, until last year’s Zodiac, they’d mostly settled into a reliable, Fire-esque, dance rock sound. But Zodiac began and Heartbeats & Brainwaves continues a new era of experimentation, and I am all for it. Electric Six are on top of their game right now.

Electric Six, “Gridlock!”

Not a lot this week. Not a lot most weeks for awhile here, as I was in a mad rush to finish comics during December. But there you go.

--D

Music From Space

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:16:24 -0800

02/13 – 02/17:

Glass Rock, Baby Baby Baby

Glass Rock, “Runaway”

Himanshu, Nehru Jackets

Ani Difranco, Which Side Are You On?

Maybe it just boils down to the opening lyrics of the swinging, horn-and-fuzzed-out-guitar-driven "If Yr Not:" "If you're not getting happy as you get older, you're fuckin' up."

Ani Difranco, “Which Side Are You On?”

Protest The Hero, Kezia

Protest The Hero, “Heretics & Killers”

D'Angelo, Voodoo

D’Angelo, “Devil’s Pie”

Lazerbeak, Lava Bangers

Lazerbeak, “Walk It Out”

Rancid, Rancid 2000

There you go.

--D

Mehuggah, Obzen

Meshuggah, “Combustion”

Trap Them, Darker Handcraft

Trap Them, “The Facts”

Opeth, Heritage

Opeth has quietly stopped being a metal band.

St. Vincent, Actor

St. Vincent, “Marrow”

There you go.

--D

Giant Drag, Hearts & Unicorns

Giant Drag, “Kevin Is Gay”

Idle Warship, Habits of the Heart

Idle Warship, “Laser Beams”

Mos Def, The Ecstatic

Mos Def, “Casa Bey”

Sleater-Kinney, Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney, “The Day I Went Away”

Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics EP

Surfer Blood, “Miranda”

There you go.

--D

Ava Luna, Services/3rd Avenue Island

Ava Luna, “Clips”

Kool AD, The Palm Wine Drinkard mixtape

Kool AD, “Dum Diary”

Raekwon, Unexpected Victory

Raekwon with JD Era, “Just A Toast”

Amon Amarth, Surtur Rising

Amon Amarth, “War Of The Gods”

There you go.

--D

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Soul Time!

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, “What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?”

Tegan & Sara, The Con Demos

Tegan & Sara, “The Con (Demo)”

Clutch, Robot Hive/Exodus

Clutch, “Gravel Road”

Jean Grae, This Week

Jean Grae, “Supa Luv”

There you go.

--D

El-P, I'll Sleep When You're Dead

Lakutis, I'm In The Forest EP

Lakutis, “Death Shark”

Prince, Sign O' The Times

Prince, “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker” (It’s nigh impossible to find a studio version of any Prince song on youtube. I just gave up)

Electric Six, Heartbeats & Brainwaves

Electric Six, “Gridlock!”

Not a lot this week. Not a lot most weeks for awhile here, as I was in a mad rush to finish comics during December. But there you go.

--D

Music From Space

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:18:59 -0800

Mehuggah, Obzen

Meshuggah, “Combustion”

Trap Them, Darker Handcraft

Trap Them, “The Facts”

Opeth, Heritage

Opeth has quietly stopped being a metal band.

St. Vincent, Actor

St. Vincent, “Marrow”

There you go.

--D

Giant Drag, Hearts & Unicorns

Giant Drag, “Kevin Is Gay”

Idle Warship, Habits of the Heart

Idle Warship, “Laser Beams”

Mos Def, The Ecstatic

Mos Def, “Casa Bey”

Sleater-Kinney, Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney, “The Day I Went Away”

Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics EP

Surfer Blood, “Miranda”

There you go.

--D

Ava Luna, Services/3rd Avenue Island

Ava Luna, “Clips”

Kool AD, The Palm Wine Drinkard mixtape

Kool AD, “Dum Diary”

Raekwon, Unexpected Victory

Raekwon with JD Era, “Just A Toast”

Amon Amarth, Surtur Rising

Amon Amarth, “War Of The Gods”

There you go.

--D

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Soul Time!

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, “What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?”

Tegan & Sara, The Con Demos

Tegan & Sara, “The Con (Demo)”

Clutch, Robot Hive/Exodus

Clutch, “Gravel Road”

Jean Grae, This Week

Jean Grae, “Supa Luv”

There you go.

--D

El-P, I'll Sleep When You're Dead

Lakutis, I'm In The Forest EP

Lakutis, “Death Shark”

Prince, Sign O' The Times

Prince, “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker” (It’s nigh impossible to find a studio version of any Prince song on youtube. I just gave up)

Electric Six, Heartbeats & Brainwaves

Electric Six, “Gridlock!”

Not a lot this week. Not a lot most weeks for awhile here, as I was in a mad rush to finish comics during December. But there you go.

--D

Okkervil River, I Am Very Far

A game changer for the band, I Am Very Far is a breath of fresh air I didn’t even know I wanted. I loved the sound on their previous two records immensely, but Okkervil River’s willingness to try drastically different new sounds here, and their success in doing so, is electrifying. Like all of their albums, it’s a powerful, moving, multi-layered experience, but the music has a brand-new bombast and grand new production that are appealing in a whole new way. A welcome surprise.

Okkervil River, “The Valley”

Mike Patton, Mondo Cane

Mike Patton isn’t known for being predictable, but a full album of 50s & 60s Italian pop performed with a full orchestra and a choir in Italian is about as far from what you’d expect from the man as possible. Even more surprising is that it’s one of the very best albums he’s ever released, alone or with any of the thousands of bands he seems to be in. Patton’s amazingly adaptive voice is truly on display here, going from crooning ballads to crazy screaming and never disserving the material. It’s a great album.

Mondo Cane, “Ore D’Amore”

Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli, Djangology

The final recordings by the famous duo who more or less invented “gypsy jazz,” Djangology is a tour de force of standards from their days in the Quintet du Hot Club de France and other compositions. Released as a double album several years after the fact, it was actually recorded in a series of sessions with Aurelio de Carolis on drums, Carlo Pecori on bass, and Gianni Safred on piano. Django was forced to invent his own style of guitar playing due to a childhood injury that resulted in the partial paralysis of two fingers, but that unique, inimitable style made him famous, and even played a part in saving his life when he lived in occupied France in WWII. Grapelli was no slouch, either, a gifted violinist who went on to play with everyone from Duke Ellington to Pink Floyd in his long career. But it was their work together with their Hot Club that made their names, and which birthed most of the songs on this collection. Django is one of my all-time favorite jazz performers, and this mammoth 23-track collection truly makes for a fine crash course in Djangology.

Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli, “Minor Swing”

Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

My favorite Spoon album. Honestly, probably the only Spoon album I genuinely love. They’ve tended to be more miss than hit for me over the years, but this one had a strangely more accessible quality to me. It felt more organic and honest, and really grabbed me like nothing they’d done and nothing they’ve done since.

Spoon, “The Underdog”

Yup
--D Yes, another year draws to a close. Not the most active or exciting on my iPod, I must say, but plenty of great records came out. In lieu of a long-winded year in review thing no one would really care about, I've decided to just list my favorite albums, roughly in order, and I made a Spotify playlist featuring as many of them as the service provided. Sadly, that meant a lot of great mixtapes and some surprising commercial releases couldn't be represented (You gotta get No Kings by Doomtree. It's not on the playlist, but trust me, it should be), but I worked with what I had. Anyway, here's the list:

Royal Bangs, Flux OutsideThao & Mirah, Thao & MirahSt. Vincent, Strange MercyTV on the Radio, Nine Types of LightMastodon, The HunterDoomtree, No KingsWild Flag, Wild FlagTalib Kweli, Gutter RainbowsHail Mary Mallon, Are You Gonna Eat That?Electric Six, Heartbeats And BrainwavesPharoahe Monch, WARThe Kills, Blood PressuresOpeth, HeritageDas Racist, RelaxSims, Bad Time ZooTesseracT, OneRaekwon, Shaolin Vs. Wu-TangSurfer Blood, Tarot ClassicsProtest the Hero, ScurrilousEast of the Wall, The ApologistJean Grae, Cookies Or Comas mixtapeBooker T., The Road From MemphisOkkervil River, I Am Very Far Mike Doughty, Yes And Also YesTom Waits, Bad As MeBetty Wright & The Roots, Betty Wright: The MovieDessa, Castor, The TwinZola Jesus, ConatusThe Roots, UndunThe Cool Kids, When Fish Ride BicyclesAtmosphere, The Family SignDes Ark, Don't Rock The Boat, Sink the Fucker!Those Darlins, Screws Get LooseG. Love, Fixin' To DieSlaughterhouse, Slaughterhouse EPIn Flames, Sounds of A Playground Fading9th Wonder, The Wonder YearsGlassjaw, Our Color Green: The SinglesLushlife, No More Golden Days mixtape††† (Crosses), EP†Beastie Boys, Hot Sauce Committee, Part 2Laws & Paul McCartney, Yesterday's Future mixtapeJoell Ortiz, Free AgentKassa Overall, The Stargate MixtapeKittie, I've Failed YouMoney Making Jam Boys, The Prestige mixtapeGAYNGS, AFFILYATEDWarm Brew, Warm Brew EPParty Animal, You Can't Win EPAmon Amarth, Surtur RisingIdle Warship, Habits of the HeartLos Campesinos!, Hello, SadnessOf Montreal, The Controllersphere EPdredg, Chuckles & Mr. SqueezyThe Lonely Island, Turtleneck & Chain Lakutis, I'm In The Forest EPTECLA, Thank$givingAmanda Diva, Madame Monochrome Tapes N' Tapes, OutsidePJ Harvey, Let England Shake ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Tao of the DeadJ. Period, John Legend & The Roots, Wake Up Radio! mixtapePucifer, Conditions of My ParoleAndrew WK, Party All Goddamn Night EPSir Michael Rocks, The Rocks Report mixtapeWugazi, 13 Chambers mixtapeTrophy Scars, Never Born, Never DeadKool AD, Hyphy Ballads EPSims & Laserbeak, Wild Life EPTori Amos, Night of HuntersTegan & Sara, Get AlongChip Tha Ripper & Chuck Inglish, Gift Raps mixtapeSmoking Popes, This Is Only A TestKing, The Story EPSkyzoo, The Great Debater mixtapeRapsody, Thank H.E.R. mixtapeTruck North, Quicktape Actual Proof, The Talented Tenth mixtapeSha Stimuli, The Break Up 2: The Proposal mixtapeBig Baby Ghandi, Big Fucking Baby mixtape

And here's the playlist:

2011: It Happened

Good-Bye, 2011. Happy 2012, everybody! Hope you have a good year.

Yup.
--D

Music From Space

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:55:25 -0800

Giant Drag, Hearts & Unicorns

Giant Drag, “Kevin Is Gay”

Idle Warship, Habits of the Heart

Idle Warship, “Laser Beams”

Mos Def, The Ecstatic

Mos Def, “Casa Bey”

Sleater-Kinney, Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney, “The Day I Went Away”

Surfer Blood, Tarot Classics EP

Surfer Blood, “Miranda”

There you go.

--D

Ava Luna, Services/3rd Avenue Island

Ava Luna, “Clips”

Kool AD, The Palm Wine Drinkard mixtape

Kool AD, “Dum Diary”

Raekwon, Unexpected Victory

Raekwon with JD Era, “Just A Toast”

Amon Amarth, Surtur Rising

Amon Amarth, “War Of The Gods”

There you go.

--D

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Soul Time!

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, “What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?”

Tegan & Sara, The Con Demos

Tegan & Sara, “The Con (Demo)”

Clutch, Robot Hive/Exodus

Clutch, “Gravel Road”

Jean Grae, This Week

Jean Grae, “Supa Luv”

There you go.

--D

El-P, I'll Sleep When You're Dead

Lakutis, I'm In The Forest EP

Lakutis, “Death Shark”

Prince, Sign O' The Times

Prince, “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker” (It’s nigh impossible to find a studio version of any Prince song on youtube. I just gave up)

Electric Six, Heartbeats & Brainwaves

Electric Six, “Gridlock!”

Not a lot this week. Not a lot most weeks for awhile here, as I was in a mad rush to finish comics during December. But there you go.

--D

And here's the playlist:

2011: It Happened

Good-Bye, 2011. Happy 2012, everybody! Hope you have a good year.

Yup.
--D

Music From Space

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:20:58 -0800

Ava Luna, Services/3rd Avenue Island

Ava Luna, “Clips”

Kool AD, The Palm Wine Drinkard mixtape

Kool AD, “Dum Diary”

Raekwon, Unexpected Victory

Raekwon with JD Era, “Just A Toast”

Amon Amarth, Surtur Rising

Amon Amarth, “War Of The Gods”

There you go.

--D

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Soul Time!

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, “What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?”

Tegan & Sara, The Con Demos

Tegan & Sara, “The Con (Demo)”

Clutch, Robot Hive/Exodus

Clutch, “Gravel Road”

Jean Grae, This Week

Jean Grae, “Supa Luv”

There you go.

--D

El-P, I'll Sleep When You're Dead

Lakutis, I'm In The Forest EP

Lakutis, “Death Shark”

Prince, Sign O' The Times

Prince, “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker” (It’s nigh impossible to find a studio version of any Prince song on youtube. I just gave up)

Electric Six, Heartbeats & Brainwaves

Electric Six, “Gridlock!”

Not a lot this week. Not a lot most weeks for awhile here, as I was in a mad rush to finish comics during December. But there you go.

--D

And here's the playlist:

2011: It Happened

Good-Bye, 2011. Happy 2012, everybody! Hope you have a good year.

Yup.
--D

Andrew WK, I Get Wet
When Andrew WK first hit the scene, at the tail end of the last era of music where some one as weird as him had the slightest chance of getting on radio & TV, I don’t think most people knew what to make of him. I sure didn’t. I went from thinking he was dead serious and hating him to thinking he was dead serious and thinking he was hilarious to not really knowing how serious he was and loving him. As he’s refined her persona as some kind of party messiah, trying to bring his message of happiness, personal fulfillment and, above all, partying to every person on the planet, as truly insane conspiracy theories about him have cropped up, as his music has strayed further and further from the sort of “party metal” on this album, as he’s become a successful club owner and children’s TV personality, I’ve been fascinated. But there’s still a certain charm and appeal to the extremely simple, blunt, no frills party attack on I Get Wet. A fast paced, bludgeoning wall of sound somehow turned into fun time music, some of the most bizarre lyrics I’ve ever heard, and the party theme make for an unlikely mixture, but it’s still pretty fun to listen to.
Andrew WK, “She Is Beautiful”
Glassjaw, Our Color Green: The Singles
Glassjaw hasn’t released an album since 2004. In that time, the band was on “hiatus,” the few times they gathered, a lot of members were missing or shuffled. Daryl concentrated on Head Automatica and many other projects, Beck focused on his music merch store and other projects, and everyone else seemed to quietly go do something else. But then, in 2010, they randomly reappeared, toured, and released a handful of extremely limited singles, collected here. The material, which is said to be several years old, is significantly heavier than 2004’s Worship & Tribute. Maybe heavier than anything they ever did. But it still sounds like Glassjaw, their own unique spin on emotionally charged heavy music. I didn’t realize just how much I missed Glassjaw until I got some new songs to listen to. I hope it’s not too long before they release something new.
Glassjaw, “All Good Junkies Go To Heaven”
Lakutis, I'm In The Forest EP
Lakutis, Das Racist’s associate who had a few scene-stealing verses in songs like “Amazing” and “Swate,” makes his solo debut with this free EP. The production, much of it by other DR associate Big Baby Gandhi, is frenetic and paranoid, and perfectly suited to Lakutis’ manic delivery. With rap catchphrases like “I’m a death shark,” “Oops,” and “I’m dead,” Lakutis is pretty out of the ordinary, but who else is going to clue you into the Seven Spiders of Hip Hop? Face it: you need Lakutis in your life. Get the EP here.
Lakutis, “Death Shark” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-WU4l3XqaE
TECLA, Thank$giving
Speaking of Das Racist affiliates, TECLA also recently put out a free project, and its definitely worth your time. She shares the tracks with Kassa Overall, Das Racist, Lakutis and others, ping ponging back and forth between serious songs about her life, sexual identity and family and bizarre material like a song in which Kassa Overall and Iron Solomon get in an insult contest and a song based on “Rhythm is a Dancer.” Production and samples vary dramatically, keeping you on your toes. I think my favorite was “Al Green Type Love,” constructed from pieces of several Green classics and featuring TECLA singing part of Biz Markie’s “Just A Friend.” It’s a really unpredictable, enjoyable listen, and it’s free! I couldn’t find a video for this.
Soul Coughing, Ruby Vhroom
Soul Coughing is conflicting these days. I love Soul Coughing. Have since the first time I heard them. When they broke up, I dutifully followed Mike Doughty into an ever-evolving solo career (See reviews of some of his solo records elsewhere on this blog). His solo material is pretty different, but I feel great affection for both. So it was with some shock and confusion that I read about what a miserable nightmare being in Soul Coughing was for Doughty, in an interview in the back of an issue of Casanova, of all places (An excellent, excellent comic book by Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon!). As a big fan and supporter of Doughty’s, now I have trouble listening to the old Soul Coughing material without feeling kind of bad... but... I still really like it. Ruby Vhroom was the group’s first album, and a great debut. It had a quirky atmosphere, a lot of variety, and a pretty unique sound. I still get a lot of out it. But... now with a tinge of discomfort. Awkward.
Soul Coughing, “Screenwriter’s Blues”
The Roots, Undun
Ah, The Roots. Never made a bad album. Have been on an unbelievable winning streak since 2006, making four of their finest albums in a row, in addition to great albums supporting John Legend and Betty White. Undun is a powerful concept album about a young man’s entrance into and violent exit from a life of crime. It’s a new level of lush production for the band, and it holds together beautifully even though the story is told out of sequence. It’s vague enough to let some listeners just put it on, but deep enough to let others really examine it. Appearances by such guests as Phonte, Bilal, Truck North, Porn and indispensable unofficial Root Dice Raw are put to great use, enhancing the feel of the record rather than playing characters or anything like that. It’s another masterpiece in an increasingly surprising string of masterpieces. No one is this good this consistently. But yo. I have to be honest. The Roots are really starting to bum me out. When I got into the game, taking my late pass with my copy of Things Fall Apart, they were a very different group. I went back and bought the whole back catalog (Even Organix), and found that they did a great job of mixing serious and fun music into their albums. But, while their dedication to and mastery of the craft has only improved since then, they’ve made only a handful of fun songs in the last five years. Specifically, “Here I Come” from Game Theory, “75 Bars” and “Rising Up” from Rising Down, “How I Got Over,” “Web 20/20” and “Hustla” from How I Got Over, and, I guess, “Kool On” from Undun. When Game Theory came out, with its intentionally oppressive atmosphere and political and social commentary, I was blown away by it. I have continued to find each album to be a masterful collection of songs. But the light has almost gone out of them. Roots albums tend to be really heavy affairs these days, and I must confess, I kinda miss the old days of “Rock You,” “Dynamite!” or even “Datskat!!!” Cheer up, Roots. Please?
The Roots, “Make My”
Yup.--D Betty Wright & The Roots, Betty Wright: The Movie
You really have to hand it to the Roots. Between their group work and Questlove’s pursuits outside the group, it feels like they’ve had a huge impact on music in the last decade especially, from Questlove’s involvement with Chappelle’s Show to their appearance as Jay-Z’s Mtv Unplugged band, to Questlove’s production of other artists to their album with John Legend to their key contributions to a long and diverse list of events, they seem to be everywhere. But even so, this album is pretty surprising. Betty Wright hasn’t released an album in 10 years, for one thing. But she did put out a single last year, and she lost a Grammy to The Roots & John Legend. And, oddly enough, their meeting that night lead to some performances and that lead to this record. Wright hasn’t lost a step, either. Betty Wright: The Movie is a worthy successor to her legendary, often-sampled ‘70s material, with the Roots creating a sound for her that is timeless and timely all at once. Other admirers like Snoop Dogg, Lil’ Wayne and Wright protege Joss Stone make solid contributions, as well. But the focus is squarely on Wright. Her still-powerful voice, the variety of subjects she takes on in her songs, and her conviction in singing them. Whether upbeat or somber, a perfect love song or a warning about domestic violence (A live version of the above-mentioned 2010 single “Go” on that touchy subject is included on some versions of this album), Betty Wright sounds as great as ever. I had no idea this was even coming out, but bought it without even listening to it when I saw it. I was not disappointed.
Betty Wright & The Roots, “In the Middle of the Game”
Childish Gambino, Camp
I was never wowed by Donald Glover’s hip hop music, and it bummed me out. I’ve been a fan since some one showed me the Derrick Comedy sketch “Girls Are Not To Be Trusted” several years ago, and have been excited to watch him go on to more and more success. I enjoy his work as an actor, writer and comedian, but when it came to music, it wasn’t working for me. Even in a genre almost defined by bragging, his lyrics seemed entirely too proud of themselves. Like even he couldn’t believe how clever his rhymes were. And those rhymes were, generally, either about buying sweaters, how everyone wishes they were him, or how his life sucks and he wants to die. There was no consistency, no authorial voice, and no topics I particularly cared to hear about. And to top it all off, he rapped in this high-pitched nasal whine that sounded like a petulant toddler. I tried to like him, but I couldn’t.
So when the homie Chris Coleman told me to give Camp a try, I did it to be nice. And I was stunned by it. The last thing I gave a shot was the Culdesac album. Maybe the change on Camp is less jarring if you’ve been keeping up with his subsequent releases, but wow. His voice is almost completely different. The “look-how-clever-I-am” smugness is gone, even when he’s doing typical rap bragging. And some of the songs get pretty deep, dealing with issues of racial identity and social isolation, but with nothing of the weird “I hate myself and I want to die” hysterics that turned up on Culdesac. These things are approached thoughtfully and honestly, and make for damn good listening. I mean, there’s songs about ho’s and gettin’ money and stuff, too, but more often than not, the lyrics are very engaging. And the production, which Glover is also heavily invovled in, is top-notch, fresh and engaging. This is a completely different artist from the last time I heard Childish Gambino, and I’m glad to hear it.
Donald Glover got the name “Childish Gambino” from one of those Wu-Tang Name Generators that were floating around the internet a decade ago. I got “Bastard Bastard Harbour Master.” Even when it comes to random Wu-Tang names, Donald Glover is doing better than me.
Childish Gambino, “Bonfire”
Los Campesinos!, Hello Sadness
Los Campesinos! are back, and more grown up than ever. On their 4th full-length (Although, for some reason, they don’t count We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, so they say 3rd), a lot has changed. 3 members of the 7-person group have left and been replaced, including semi-co-lead-vocalist/keyboardist Aleks, replaced by other lead vocalist Gareth’s sister, Kim (Kinda awkward for some of their material, I’d assume). But personnel changes aren’t all. Gareth’s singing suddenly sounds a lot more confident and practiced. Whereas previous material was delivered with a snotty snarl connecting them to a long history of British punk music, Gareth sounds like he’s grown up some, vocally. And for the most part, so does every other aspect of the band. The lyrics are less likely to be snarky one-liners and seem more raw and honest, and the music follows suit. The youthful bombast, the speed, the chanted backing vocals seem to have all quietly bowed out of the band’s sound. It is overall a much more somber affair, even on songs that aren’t sad. Which, I guess, is right in the title, but still a pretty jarring set of changes from all previous material. But, it still works. Even at their loudest and most sarcastic, the band always had a heart-on-their-sleeve openness that endeared them to the listener, and with a somewhat more mature approach, that connection becomes stronger. It leaves me wondering where they’re headed in the future. But I think it’s safe to say Los Campesinos! may not be a band that requires an exclamation point anymore.
Los Campesinos!, “By Your Hand”
Soundgarden, Badmotorfinger
There was a time, a time called middle school, where this album was entirely beyond me. I’d heard “Blackhole Sun” 4000000 times like everyone else, and enjoyed Superunknown, and in typical me fashion, went looking for more albums. And I had no idea what to do with this. I hadn’t really cultivated a taste for anything too heavy metal, and this was so far removed from the standard grunge fare of Superunknown that it totally broadsided me. In retorspect, what a strange transformation that must have been for existing fans. And in the present, with a much, much (much!) broader musical palate, I think this is my favorite Soundgarden album. But it took awhile to get there.
Soundgarden, “Rusty Cage”
Art Brut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll
I will confess I’ve had diminishing returns on each subsequent Art Brut album. Some bands’ initial appeal is their wildness. The music is brash, raw, sloppy, and all the better for it. And no matter what, there’s no way they could realistically keep that up. Deftones and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are probably some of the best examples in my library, but Art Brut is definitely up there.I’ve enjoyed further releases and all, but the unpredictable, crazed, hilarious sound on Bang Bang Rock & Roll is exactly the kind of music that can’t stay the same. In terms of maturity, skill, production preferences, and just the artistic need to grow, no band is going to stay in a place where they can make songs like “Formed A Band,” “My Little Brother,” “Good Weekend” and “Modern Art” for long. But that special place early on where a band can just go for broke produces some of my favorite music.
Art Brut, “Modern Art”
Bob Dylan, Blonde On Blonde
The monolith. The one most people will say is his masterpiece. The epic double album that once and for all severed his ties with his past, the peak of a truly stunning 5-year artistic progression, some of the weirdest, densest popular music ever recorded at the time, and even putting all that aside, just a great collection of songs.
I have come to realize over the years that, if I think something that isn’t necessarily meant to be funny is, indeed, funny when I’m first exposed to it, I will eventually come to genuinely love it. Dylan might be the earliest example I can think of, but there’s also Andrew WK, most genres of metal, a mid-life re-evaluation of Billy Ocean, and several other examples in my musical development. When I was but a lad, no later than 7th grade, my friend’s Dad got randomly hooked on the song “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.” Even then, I had developed a reputation as music-obsessed, so I was asked where he could find a good version of that song, but I was like 13, what did I know about “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door?” He eventually purchased the 1989 live album Dylan & The Dead. This... was a mistake. Such a mistake that he didn’t know what to make of it. But they played the album for me, and I cackled like a madman. This was Dylan at his most-parodied. The impression people do of Bob Dylan is generally how he sounded in the 80s. Especially nasal, nearly incomprehensible shouting, and nowhere in his 50 year career did he sound more like some one doing a bad impression of himself than this live album. I couldn’t for the life of me tell you what he was saying in basically any of these performances of some of his most famous pieces, but I thought it was hysterical. I dubbed a copy of the CD, even (OMG piracy!). Bob Dylan = funny. Filed that away, went on with my life.
I was a freshman in college before I thought of Bob again. I was making the long drive to my comic shop and Blonde On Blonde’s “Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again” came on the radio. I thought of Dylan & The Dead, and I laughed, and I kind of heard it as the parody Dylan voice instead of actually listening to it. But it’s a really long song, and as it kept going, and I stopped laughing at my memories and started really listening to it, I became more and more intrigued. Generally speaking, when we get to this part of a story, I’m about to become obsessed. By the end of the night, I’d researched his entire discography on the still fledgling late-90s internet and decided I should start with Blonde On Blonde. Within a few months, I’d own the vast majority of his recorded work, and be a true believin’ convert. In the coming years, I’d eagerly snap up each new record, see him in concert in 2002 (Shouts to Maile for front-row tickets!), buy his book, buy books about him, watch the Scorsese documentary etc, etc, etc. I became a dyed in the wool Dylan fanatic. But none of that probably would’ve happened if I didn’t spend a few hours laughing uncontrollably at Dylan & The Dead as a kid. It’s a funny ol’ world.
Bob Dylan, “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again”
Yup.
--D

Music From Space

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:58:06 -0800

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Soul Time!

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, “What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?”

Tegan & Sara, The Con Demos

Tegan & Sara, “The Con (Demo)”

Clutch, Robot Hive/Exodus

Clutch, “Gravel Road”

Jean Grae, This Week

Jean Grae, “Supa Luv”

There you go.

--D

El-P, I'll Sleep When You're Dead

Lakutis, I'm In The Forest EP

Lakutis, “Death Shark”

Prince, Sign O' The Times

Prince, “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker” (It’s nigh impossible to find a studio version of any Prince song on youtube. I just gave up)

Electric Six, Heartbeats & Brainwaves

Electric Six, “Gridlock!”

Not a lot this week. Not a lot most weeks for awhile here, as I was in a mad rush to finish comics during December. But there you go.

--D

And here's the playlist:

2011: It Happened

Good-Bye, 2011. Happy 2012, everybody! Hope you have a good year.

Yup.
--D

Music From Space

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:22:14 -0800

El-P, I'll Sleep When You're Dead