Day 249: M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

4 Nov

Midnight City

I was watching the latest episode of the (awesome) series How To Make it in America, when something caught my attention.  This is a show with a reliably solid soundtrack, so great songs are often playing in the background, but something different happened this time.  As this particular episode began winding down, an amazing piece of music started playing.  It meshed perfectly with what was going down on screen, and I knew I had to hear more.  I whipped out my phone and opened up Shazam as quickly as I could, and within seconds, I had all the data on this beautiful track.

M83, an artist that I’ve already listened to for the blog, is responsible for Midnight City, the awesome track that I was hearing.  If you’re a regular Swole reader and you give this song a listen, I know what you’ll be thinking.  You’ve probably come to the conclusion that this song sounds so ’80s, and I have no reason for not liking Human League or something if I can get behind this track.  Here’s what it comes down to: I have heard absolutely nothing from that cherished decade of yours that hits as hard as Midnight City.  You can actually feel the synths pulsating, the beat pounding, and that almost-obnoxious vocal sample ringing in your ears over and over.  If you know of something from the ’80s that holds a power similar to Midnight City’s, please, please, tell me about it.

Unfortunately, the rest of this double album is just kind of meh.  Other than a second track as monstrous as Midnight City, the remaining 20 tracks just fall flat. Still, I’d say it’s all worth it because of that single song.

Tags: ,

Day 248: The War on Drugs – Wagonwheel Blues

3 Nov

Taking the Farm

With a band name like “The War on Drugs,” I was expecting yet another conventional bleepy-bloop-core indie band in the vein of Strfkr or Neon Indian. I was only partially right in my assumption; what I actually got was a very strange hybrid of indie pop and Dylan-esque folk music.  While the inventiveness cannot be denied, its listenability most definitely can.

The War on Drugs was doomed to fail as soon as I pressed play.  I’m not the biggest fan of Bob Dylan, so I’m definitely not going to be a fan of what appears to be a completely irony-free (terrible) impersonation of the man.  Additionally, there has been a fair share of indie rock trashing going down on this website as of late, so another 45-minute robo-guitar collaboration was not exactly what I needed to hear.

Also, I’m not a fan of terrible album covers. Usually the first thing seen before listening to a new record, I feel that the cover’s importance is often ignored.  If an album has a cover that looks like ones that I’ve already seen quite a few times in my life, I’m naturally going to assume that the music within the album lacks creativity as well.  Ironically, the opposite is true here, but with their painful combination of bad folk and bad/often-generic indie pop, The War on Drugs shows that creativity is not always a good thing.  There’s just some music that does not need to be made, and Wagonwheel Blues’ existence is hard to justify.

Tags: ,

Day 247: MSTRKRFT – Fist of God

2 Nov

1,000 Cigarettes 

Yes, that is in fact one of the worst album covers of all time. While Ken still holds the title, this cover is up there, without a doubt.  But it’s not just that awful cover that made me throw up in my mouth a little.  The fact that this record is titled Fist of God adds even more tackiness to a record that could already win any traction contest it entered.  (Get it? Really tacky things have a lot of traction…oh never mind).

Despite the god-awful artwork, I figured that I owed this album a listen.  It was made in part by Death From Above 1979’s bass player—that band’s non-douchebag half—and would supposedly help satisfy my recent craving  for harder dance music. MSTRKRFT’s Fist of God is proof (in the flesh [I am such a funny guy]) that you can’t judge an album by its cover.

I’ve been writing a lot lately about music with a lack of substance, and that ain’t about to change.  Yeah, this record’s got no substance, but it is one of the catchiest things that I’ve ever heard.  And while it may not have the staying power of a soulful record like Justice’s †, there’s no doubt that the tracks on this album will be making people dance for years to come.  The beats are what some would call “bangin’,” the songs are under the 4-minute ADD mark for the most part, and the various synths and whatnot all sound pretty cool.  Do I ever need to listen to this album again? No.  Did I have fun while listening to it?  Absolutely.

Tags: ,

Day 246: The Cars – The Cars

1 Nov

You’re All I’ve Got Tonight

It’s Dad Rock Tuesday once again, and I have quite a post for you today.  Guess what?  A dated late-’70s record has once again underwhelmed me.  This blog has never been about objectively judging music—the fact that I write every post in the first person attests to that.  This is all about my opinions, which, I’ll admit, is a bit self-indulgent.  They’re what I know best, though.

Anyway.  The Cars further cement my “meh” opinion of the genre of new wave.  This popular late ’80s surge in mediocrity still doesn’t work for me.

The group vocals are obnoxious, the synths are overpowering, and while a few of the songs could easily be considered catchy, they’re all fairly hollow and devoid of any substance whatsoever.

Who knows what I’d have thought of this record if I had grown up in the ’70s, though?  I imagine that this would have been a very welcome break from disco or whatever.  There’s very little mutual respect between differing generations and their respective music, and while I do consider myself fairly accepting of a lot of older stuff, I just can’t do it sometimes.  This record has that completely stereotypical ’80s sound to it, one that my ears have been trained to despise.  Maybe that right there is what I’m basing my opinion of this album on, which, I’ll admit, isn’t very fair.  There’s not too much that I can do about it, though.  As a very wise man once said, “haters gon hate.”

Tags:

Day 245: Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra

31 Oct

Ffunny Frends

Is that some fuzzy-buzzy indie rock?  Why yes, it is some fuzzy-buzzy indie rock.  Don’t mind if I do.

As disposable as this album is, I can’t help but love it.  Unknown Mortal Orchestra is what has come to be known as a buzzband.  Groups with this label put out a record, build up a bit of hype, and then fade into obscurity.  I come in a few months later, after this cycle has completed.  If you’re a keen observer, you’ll have noticed that I listen to a whole lot of old buzzbands.  As my father says, “you’ve got to fill the space around the ads.”

That works for a newspaper; not so much for a blog devoid of ads. And revenue.  Forget that I said anything.

Anyway, Unknown Mortal Orchestra (the album) is good enough to get a few listens out of me.  The main thing that this record has going for it is a whole lot of catchiness.  It’s not your conventional, radio-ready catchiness, though.  It’s feedback heavy, highly distorted, reverb-intensive guitar and synth rock.

I’ll be the first to admit that this album does sound kind of cool.  Unfortunately, it lacks any sort of substance that could allow its creators to stick around for any sort of multi-year period of time.  It’s hard to explain, but there’s just a feeling I get while listening to this album.  What it boils down to is that this band just doesn’t seem all that sincere.  While their music is catchy, it feels just as empty and forced as most of the current Top 40.

Tags:

Day 244: Drive-By Truckers – The Dirty South

30 Oct

Where The Devil Don’t Stay

No, this ain’t no Lynyrd Skynyrd, but one could be forgiven for associating Drive-By Truckers’ The Dirty South with that awful band at first.  This alt-country group definitely leans towards the country side of the genre, with banjos and harmonicas making frequent appearances. Let’s just say that Drive-By Truckers don’t hold back their inner redneck.  However, instead of the pride in and celebration of the United States’ more embarrassing half that dominates Skynyrd records, The Dirty South tells stories of Southern-style debauchery and delinquency, while painting it as a generally unpleasant place to be.  The “we don’t like yer kind round these parts, Jew boy” feeling that I get from listening to a Skynyrd record is completely absent as well, which is always a plus.

In all honesty, Drive-By Truckers are too good for comparisons to Skynyrd, so I feel like a bad person now.  It is bands like this that make me want to get into country music.  But then I turn on country radio, and that desire is brought to a halt pretty quickly.  I still win any music discussion that goes off on a country tangent, though, even with my limited knowledge of the genre.  Here’s how they usually go down:

Ignoramus: “All country is terrible.”

Swole Ear: “Johnny Cash.”

Argument over. 

But seriously, maybe there’s an underground country music scene of sorts that I’m not aware of.  I can’t reasonably assume that the best of modern country is what’s played on the radio—that’d be like thinking that Nickleback and Coldplay are the best that rock has to offer.  It’s time to do some research.

But, I digress. The Dirty South is a sick record that I highly recommend.  It is quite possibly even a gateway into the secret world of good country music that I so desperately hope exists.

Tags: ,

Day 243: The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema

29 Oct

The Bleeding Heart Show

Sometimes, rarely, every now and then, infrequently, Canadians get something right.

I’ve got no excuse for not having listened to a New Pornos record before this.  They’ve played both Lollapalooza and three blocks from my house at a Northwestern University concert, released a couple of well-received records, and been the subject of all kinds of hype since I first really got into music.  It’s just a slip-up on my part, for which I apologize.  Hey, it’s not all bad, though—if I had done my indie homework in the past, you might very well be reading about some other band that only ten people and a few dogs have heard of, with songs that make you understand why.  Things could be much worse.

Twin Cinema is an all-around solid record.  Does it make any greatest-of-all-time lists of mine? Nein.  Will it receive any future spins from me?  Fer shizzle.  We all need some good old conventional indie pop in our lives, even if it is coming from north of the border.  Plus, Neko Case is in the band.  Considering that she has one of the greatest album covers in history, the Pornos get some major brownie points on that front.  No, the lyrics aren’t exactly what I’d call coherent, but as one astute Swole reader points out, lyrics can sometimes be “aesthetic,” and still “good.”  So no, I don’t really go “after picking the glass off the ground” or “after shaking the thing for a sound” (Sing Me Spanish Techno), but hey, it sounds cool.  Who am I to hate?

Tags: ,

Day 242: Brian Wilson – Smile

28 Oct

Good Vibrations 

As November 1st draws closer and closer, dad-rockers the world over are finding it harder and harder to contain their excitement.  That day will see the release of the long-awaited Smile Sessions, recordings from the Beach Boy’s never-released post-Pet Sounds project from 1966.  Due to technical difficulties, as well as the insanity and unrecognized (at the time, of course) genius of Brian Wilson, the original album never saw the light of day.  Today’s record is a different piece of the Smile legacy.   In 2004, Wilson got together with his (shudder) touring band, and attempted to reconstruct that lost album from scratch.  The result, Brian Wilson’s Smile, got a whole lot of love from fans and critics alike, as it does give a fairly good idea of what could have been.

That being said, this is not The Beach Boys.  It’s a 62-year-old Brian Wilson with a bunch of Beach Boys impersonators.  Even though I am not a Beach Boys aficionado, I can still tell the difference.  I will reluctantly admit that the back up band does stay fairly true to the original band’s sound, but even the simple fact that it’s not them does take away from this record.  As for Brian Wilson, it is a bit strange hearing lyrics written by (and meant for) a twenty-year-old coming from a much older dude.

This project was never supposed to fill the hole left by the original unreleased record, though.  Brian Wilson’s Smile is simply a reimagining of what should have been a masterpiece of a record.  Almost all of the components are here, just about 40 years too late.  The Smile Sessions is all from the ’60s, which should be fairly interesting.

Tags: ,

Day 241: Magic Kids – Memphis

27 Oct

Superball

On a night filled with much homework and procrastination, I was thrilled to listen to a record described as “short” and “catchy.”  I’m a busy guy; I have facebook friends to stalk and World Series games to watch papers to write and math problems to solve.

Well, I cannot argue with that description.  Almost an hour shorter than yesterday’s monstrosity of an “album,” Magic Kids’ Memphis is just what I needed.  No, it’s not one of the most intelligent pieces of music that I’ve ever heard, but who cares?  Sometimes, you need some stupid songs about college, romance, and college romances.  This album is like that TV show that you keep watching well after it has jumped the shark.  It’s gotten goofy, but there’s comfort to be found in the familiar characters and it doesn’t matter if the writing is unbearable and the plots are embarrassingly corny.

Memphis is simple, infectious indie pop in its simplest form, and there’s nothing wrong with that.  I’d rather listen to the optimistic Good to Be or upbeat Candy on repeat than most of the pretentious, faux-intelligent garbage that’s thrown my way.

There’s also something to be said for the earnestness and sincerity with which Magic Kids approach their music.  They’re singing about what they know, while retaining a cheery disposition—something that’s become far too uncommon with all of these bands made up of half-empty twenty-somethings.  So bring on the goofy, the foolishly upbeat, and the fairly short.  Tomorrow’s another day, and errthang gon’ be good, bro.

Tags: ,

Day 240: The Bloody Beetroots – Romborama

26 Oct

It’s Better a DJ On 2 Turntables

In the hour and 21 minutes that I spent with The Bloody Beetroots today, I found a whole lot to be annoyed with.  From the album cover to the band members themselves, there’s very little to love in some of the most contrived stuff that I’ve ever had the misfortune of hearing.

Let’s start with the basics.  Romborama is flat-out annoying.  Recommended to me because of my recent love of Justice, this record embodies almost everything wrong with modern electronic music.  Honestly, it’s just a few “killer drops” away from donning the brostep label. I felt like I should have been listening to this album through Skullcandies, while fuming about how no one understands my obscure taste in music.

In all candor, most of my rage is probably caused by this album’s beyond-unnecessary 80-minute length.  There’s nothing quite as self-indulgent as releasing an extremely long album.  An album this long is something that only well-established bands can get away with, and even then it is usually pretty obnoxious.  My guess is that these guys wanted to put a lot of possible single candidates out there.  With zero flow and its extreme repetitiveness, there’s no way that this monstrosity is intended to be listened to as a whole.

Let’s not forget that the members of The Bloody Beatroots wear Venom masks on stage when performing.  While I would never actually find that endearing, the fact that I hate their music only makes it more annoying.  I can see it now, these two dumbledores standing behind their laptops and drum machines, bobbing their heads to the music that their drunken teenage fans can’t get enough of.

Tags: ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →