Archive | December, 2011

Day 286: John Prine – John Prine

11 Dec

Sam Stone

This dude is a former mailman from Maywood.  I really should like his music, and I thought that I did for a little while—John Prine’s 1971 self-titled debut LP starts out pretty strong.  “Illegal Smile,” a tribute to what I’m pretty sure is marijuana, gives the impression that the album is going to have at least a slight sense of humor.  However, by the time “Hello In There” (the next track) rolls around, it becomes clear that this isn’t the case.  What originally appeared to be a few lighthearted jokes take on whole different meanings, and it becomes evident pretty quickly that you’re in for one hell of a depressing ride.

Prine is unrelenting, as the very next song is centered on the line “there’s a hole in daddy’s arm, where all the money goes.”

Prine builds you up every now and then…however, he just ends up tearing you right back down.  Tracks like “Paradise” and “Pretty Good” appear to be positive at first, but quickly take turns for the worst, as everything falls to pieces for Prine and his unfortunate characters.

This just kept happening and happening, and had I been in a different mindset, I might have loved it.  However, I wasn’t  really in the mood for music that makes it seem like there’s nothing good about life.  Believe me, there are times when this record would be absolutely perfect, but that time ain’t right now.

With a weird voice and solid song writing, this record does have plenty of what I want out of my music.  This album will probably come in handy down the road.

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Day 285: Randy Newman – Good Old Boys

10 Dec

Back On My Feet Again

And the Suggestion Train will keep on chugging, straight into The United States’ worse half, for Randy Newman’s Good Old Boys.

Seconds into this record, I knew that I recognized that voice.  It had to be the dude who wrote “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” for Toy Story, it just had to be.  A few more seconds in, and I realized that it was also the guy behind “It’s A Jungle Out There,” the Monk theme song. Naturally, I was a little confused.  Why is the creator of such wholesome and family-friendly songs from my childhood singing about rednecks in a Jeff Foxworthy-after-a-little-too-much-whiskey way, full of racism and hatred?

Newman’s ironic and satirical style took about half of a song for me to get used to. Once I realized that “Rednecks” is in fact a criticism of the lifestyle that at first appears to be celebrated, I quickly fell in love with this record.

While the South-loathing schtick isn’t prominent on every song—quite a few tracks seem to be tributes—there’s still plenty to enjoy for the average northerner.  Newman’s got a cool voice; he always has.  God knows how many times I watched Toy Story as a little kid, so I might even owe him for fostering my love of unconventional voices early on.  Newman’s vocals and stories are the clear centerpieces of this record, but the instrumentation should be acknowledged as well.  Thankfully, he stays close to a piano throughout, and this sounds little like the country record that it kind of is.

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Day 284: The Darkness – Permission To Land

9 Dec

I Believe in a Thing Called Love

Yeah, you’re right, no one suggested an early 00’s glam rock record.  I promise, I really will get around to that list of records you all have given me, but I also need this website to help me fulfill the large amount of upcoming concert research that I need to do.

Long time readers know that I absolutely love Foxy Shazam—well, their most recent record, at least.  That’s the one where they take indie rock to its most spandex-tastic levels.  With a new record in the pipeline, as well as a first single that attests to the band’s continued ever-present ridiculousness, I had begun gearing up for a U.S. tour with a face-melting performance stop in Chicago.  So I was pretty disappointed when I opened up a show listing email just to see Foxy on the second line of a concert by some band called The Darkness.  Openers never get any love, and I have a feeling that Foxy’s set will be nothing like their last stop in Chicago, the one that I’m still kicking myself for missing.

However, I haven’t lost all hope.  You don’t get a band like Foxy Shazam to open for you if you can’t bring da noise—you never want an opener putting on the more energetic show.  While not as initially gleeful and fun, this modern hair metal band still packs a punch, and should provide for a fun concert.  Why they’re touring, I’m not exactly sure.  This album came out in 2003, with their only other proper LP released two years later.  I don’t think many Americans were clamoring for a Darkness reunion tour, but I’ll take any opportunity that I get to see Foxy Shazam live.

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Day 283: Brian Eno – Here Come The Warm Jets

8 Dec

Baby’s On Fire

And the suggest-apocalypse has begun.  Yes, somehow, some way, a guy like me has managed to have never listened to a Brian Eno record.  Oh, of course, I’ve heard the freaking MGMT track named after him, but I’ve never gotten around to the man himself.  I’m pretty sure that he invented electronic music as we know it today or something like that, so this was just some ignince on my part.

I think a few things kept me away from Brian Eno—the man, as well as his music, are intimidating for a few reasons.  There’s so much of it that it’s hard to figure out where to start, and it’s supposed to be really important—this can sometimes keep me away from certain records, for some unknown reasons buried deep within my subconscious mind.

Anyway, all ridiculous reasoning aside, this record is crazy-interesting.  Even today, amongst all of the weird modern nonsense that I subject myself to, this record holds up fairly well in the Strange Department.  There’s so much going on in Here Come The Warm Jets; I found my senses overloaded.  First of all, there’s the instrumentation. Every instrument touched by Eno becomes fairly unrecognizable.  The lyrics are crazy too—I usually had no idea what Eno was saying because I was preoccupied trying to figure out what animal must have sat on his keyboard. However, I did notice that the delivery is often extra creepy.  Don’t get me wrong, this is a cool record, but it definitely needs a few more listens before I’ll have it fully digested.

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Day 282: Ratatat – Ratatat

7 Dec

El Pico

[Author’s note: this post was originally mistitled as “Day 283.”  It has since been corrected–I promise that I’m not trying to cheat y’all out of any Swole.]

So some of you may have pointed out (via the always hilarious comment section) that it may be time for me to break free of the indiesphere.  In nicer words, I’ve been told that I’m now listening to tunes so awful, and so completely random, that I need to spread my wings and explore what ever else the wide world of music has to offer me.

That sounds great and all, but it won’t be happening today.  I’ll be honest, it’s records like Ratatat’s Ratatat that keep my feet firmly planted in indie-opolis.  But, by all means, if y’all have suggestions for records that will expand my musical knowledge and appreciation, then leave a comment or shoot me an email at swole.ear[at]gmail[dot]com.  I know I’ve been pretty loose with getting around to recs in the past, but as this project begins to wind down, I think it’d be good for me to accomplish one of the things that I originally intended—expand my appreciation of music.

Anyway, this record is a testament to the fact that I haven’t listened to all of the good and inventive indie stuff out there.  Mostly made up of instrumentals, the dudes on the cover showcase their wide array of talent—which definitely extends beyond a bass and guitar—for eleven relaxed, jam-tastic, spacey, catchy songs.  I’ve been told that Ratatat puts on a crazy live show, but I just don’t see how that’d be possible.  This stuff is so calm and even-tempoed, the last thing I’d want to do while listening to it is mosh.

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Day 281: Al Green – I’m Still In Love With You

6 Dec

I’m Still In Love With You

My dad’s taste in music never fails to confuse me.  If you want to talk to a guy with eclectic taste, he’s your man.  For this week’s installment of Dad Rock Tuesday, he bestowed upon me Al Green’s 1972 release, I’m Still In Love With You.

Now, I’m going to ask you to do one thing.  Look at that cover.  Now look at it again.  Are you dying of laughter yet? No?  Look at it one more time.  How could I take anything with a cover like that seriously? It slowed me down a little at first, but then I let Al Green’s beautiful, smooth, emotive voice wash over me, and that ridiculous picture was forgotten almost immediately.

Listening to music like this is a little weird to me.  It’s so far outside of the range of what’s usually playing on my iPod that I can’t help but be inclined to dislike it a bit at first.  However, I made myself open up to this stuff, and found that there’s nothing to dislike about the work of Al Green.  It’s genuinely catchy, even if it’s for different reasons than my treasured indie pop.  Mr. Green has one hell of a voice, reaching pitch-perfect highs that I didn’t think were humanly possible.  Believe it or not, the kids today would have no problem describing this stuff as “chill,” or “really chill,” which is another thing that I often look for in music.

So maybe my dad’s taste isn’t all that confusing.  I’ll give him credit.  He listens to music that sounds good, and doesn’t force stuff that doesn’t.  I can definitely learn from that.

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Day 280: DJ Shadow – Endtroducing…..

5 Dec

Building Steam With a Grain of Salt

Endtroducing….., DJ Shadow’s legendary debut record, shows two dudes browsing a record store on its cover.  While it does serve as a hint of what to expect from the actual record, it’s more of an understatement than anything.  The crate digging that must have gone down in preparation for this record is simply mind-boggling.  99% of this hour-long album is composed of obscure samples, not one of which I was successful in naming.  While some vocals were recorded in a studio, it’s simply amazing when you think of everything that went into this record.

Haters call this type of hip-hop lazy and uninventive—if DJ Shadow didn’t create any of the samples used, he’s just taking credit for the work of others.  This is also the type of person who goes to Nickelback concerts, so it’s probably best to just ignore them.  It takes some serious skill to do what DJ Shadow does over and over again on this album—the man brings music of all different genres, as well as some spoken-word stuff, together to form some trippy, dreamy, beautiful soundscapes.

To this 2011 listener, it’s impossible not to think of the work of Girl Talk when listening to this record.  Yeah, the albums have their differences (in addition to sounding nothing alike), but it’s just where I immediately go when I hear an album composed almost entirely of samples.  And when I write that the two artists sound nothing alike, I mean they sound nothing alike.  The goal of a Girl Talk record is to pump up and invigorate the listener through really catchy, ever-changing samples, where half of the joy comes from being able to shout “OMG GUIZE I KNOW THAT SONG” 30 times a minute.  Entroducing….., on the other hand, puts you in the polar-opposite mindset of chiiiiiiiled ouuuuuuut, and half of that relaxed joy comes from constantly saying “where the hell did he find that one?”

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Day 279: SebastiAn – Total

4 Dec

Embody

…but I won’t.

Yup, that’s a dude making out with himself.  In fact, that’s the man behind this record making out with himself.  SebastiAn has to do a lot of things (like throw a random uppercase letter in his moniker), to generate buzz, because his music sure isn’t going to do it for him.

This is another French electro-house artist (in the vein of Justice and Daft Punk) making music that just doesn’t live up to what  inspired it.  There are a few reasons for this failure that plenty of other critics have already touched on since Total’s release over the summer.  Some claim that this is a dying genre, one that peaked five years ago, and others say the songs on this record just don’t pack a punch.  While both of those criticisms have some merit, I feel that one important factor has been overlooked: SebastiAn does not know how to put an album together.

Why is Justice’s † one of the most beloved electronic albums in recent history? It’s brilliant as a record.  It flows beautifully from start to finish, and every single song has a purpose.  Take out any single track, and † would lose something huge.  With 22 tracks, SebastiAn’s Total goes way past the point of listenability.  The gems (and there are a few) lose all of their power because they’re buried under tracks like Motor, which samples an engine revving and switching gears for four minutes.

Fans may argue that Total isn’t meant to be listened to as a whole; that this is dance music, meant to be heard in a club in much smaller, non-consecutive chunks.  That’s fine, but then why even bother releasing it?

When the most exciting thing about a record is its cover, we’ve got issues. Total waste of time.

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Day 278: The Dear Hunter – Act 1: The Lake South, The River North

3 Dec

City Escape

Deciding where to begin with a band is a pretty big challenge.  As you can imagine, first impressions are extremely important with me, and I really do try to give each band the best chance possible.  That being said, I can’t just pick the record that received the best reviews, because those who write about music have no idea of what they’re talking about.  I try to listen to fan favorites, but even that can prove to be problematic.  Hardcore fans may embrace a more complex record, one that requires a few listens (a “grower”), so it’s often just a shot in the dark on my part.

That is, unless a band gives me a clear starting point.  Including “Act 1” in your first record, “Act 2” in your second, and “Act 3” in your third is a pretty good example of such.  Experience tells me that it’s also a hint that the record is going to be over the top and dramatic, two things that I love in my music.

The Dear Hunter’s approach is as theatrical as their album names would lead you to believe—Act 1 definitely sounds like the soundtrack to a dark play of some sort.  I didn’t really pick up on a plot during this initial listen, but with song names like “The Inquiry Of Ms. Terri” and “The Pimp and The Priest,” I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an intricate narrative that ties this record (and the following acts) together.

My inability to pick up on a plot took nothing away from my enjoyment of this record.  I’m a fan of over the top music in all forms, so I have a lot to love in Act 1.  With plenty of drawn out instrumentals that end just before you get sick of them, and dramatic, spooky group chants, this is some good and melodramatic drama.  I’m tempted to check out Act 2 tomorrow…

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Day 277: Built to Spill – Keep It Like A Secret

2 Dec

Cary The Zero

These guys have been around forever, and I need something to listen to.  Congratulations, you’ve finally had one of the many Swole Ear record selection processes revealed to you.

But seriously, that’s all that went into this pick.  Anyone that listens to music has heard the name Built To Spill, even if (like me), they know nothing about the band.  With a name like that, I pegged them as a fairly standard indie rock band even before pressing play on Keep It Like A Secret, their fans’ most beloved album.

My prediction was spot on.

The singer-guitar-bass-drum set up is there in full force, and this is textbook indie rock, ladies and gentlemen.  Frontman Doug Martsch sings mostly about frustration and love, two classic indie standbys.  It’s not that the lyrics are bad; it’s that they’ve been done before.  My music timeline is fairly skewed, so my brain’s subconscious decision to ignore that this album came out in 1999 may be flawed.  I’ve got to think that plenty of bands were making music just like this before B2S, though.

Sure, the lead singer does have a unique voice, but it hardly stands out against the unspectacularness that backs it up.

I’ll be honest with y’all, Built To Spill does sound like plenty of other bands that I’ve got in my music library.  I like indie rock, but I think my tolerance for the genre has reached its capacity.  I’ll still accept the stuff that both originally got me into the genre and held my interest, but it’s as if I’ve reached a point where, unless it’s really got something to set it apart, I’m going to find it very boring.

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