Day 239: ACϟDC – Back in Black

25 Oct

Shoot to Thrill

Like that little lightning bolt up yonder?  Yeah, I’m proud of that too.

It was only a matter of time. I was finally assigned some ACϟDC (yes, I’ll be using the lightning bolt for the entirety of this post) for Dad Rock Tuesday.  Honestly, there’s not too much to be said about a record like Back in Black.  An album this iconic, this well known, and this old, has already been analyzed and examined in about every possible way. This post is destined to add to the white noise.  But that’s never stopped me before, so let’s get this a’rolling.

Here’s a little (probably unnecessary) history lesson.  Back in Black was ACϟDC’s first release after the death of their first singer, Bon Scott.  While the remaining band members considered calling it quits, they decided to replace Scott, and dedicate this release to him.  That doesn’t mean they stopped being ACϟDC, though.  You think that perhaps a band would come back with a somber, morose release after the death of their front man?  The band that brought you both She’s Got Balls and Big Balls was not about to serious-up.

The hilarious thing to me about this record is the varying level of subtlety that the guys employ with their music.  Track six is called Givin the Dog a Bone (which scores fairly high on ACϟDC’s enigma scale), while the very next song is titled Let Me Put My Love Into You.  Yeah.

13-year-old crudeness aside, this album is home to iconic numbers like Hells Bells, You Shook Me All Night Long, and the title track, of course.  Regardless of my thoughts on this type of music, there’s no denying that this stuff has made a huge mark not just on rock, but on music as a whole.  Even I’ll admit that most of it is pretty damn catchy.

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Day 238: Chilly Gonzales – The Unspeakable

24 Oct

Rap Race

Look, I could just type up a post of only lyrics from this record, and it’d be funnier and more interesting than anything I’ve ever written.  Actually, I’m pretty tempted to do just that.  There’s something standing in the way, though.  Having just listened to Chilly Gonzales’ ridiculously awesome The Unspeakable, every brilliant line said by one of the funniest dudes that I’ve ever heard is quickly escaping my head.  I’ma start this record up again, and hopefully pull some of the brightest gems for y’all because that’s the only way that I can hope to do this record justice.

You know what, second thought.  Quoting many of these lines out of context just won’t do it. Listen to Self Portrait or Beans, and I’m confident that you’ll see what I mean pretty quickly.

It’s not just the hilarious self-deprecating rhymes that make The Unspeakable so endearing.  This really is hip-hop in its most unlikely form.  Chilly Gonzales is a 40-year-old white guy (who looks like this), who has produced for a bunch of big names, and released music of every variety—in addition to his hip-hop work, he’s got a few electronic records, and a 16-track album of his piano compositions under his belt.  He has one of the strangest (and arguably one of the worst) flows in rap history, and perhaps most importantly, there is not a single beat to be found on this album.  As far as I know, that’s pretty much unheard of in hip-hop.  This is orchestral hip-hop, though, and Chilly Gonzales does not conform to standards (he’d tell you to go listen to The xx or Gossip if “normal” is what you’re looking for).

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Day 237: Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation

23 Oct

Cannons

It’s quite challenging to listen to and interpret the lyrics of an album that you are simultaneously trying to write about.  I’ve discovered over the past eight months that things work best if I ignore lyrics for portions of the daily record, bang out a couple of paragraphs, then put the writing to the side for a track or two and really focus on the music as a whole.  If a band is capable in the lyric department, I’ll usually pick up on a couple of good lines during one of these writing breaks.  The opposite is true for the band with garbage lyrics.

What do I do when I flat-out cannot understand the lyrics, though?  Look them up online? You think I have time for that? I’m a busy man.  But what if I listen to a record praised for its extremely personal lyrics?  That’s a tough one.

Yeah, I’m still not going to bother looking these up.  It’s the artist’s responsibility to make what they are saying understandable.  Perhaps Trevor Powers (the man behind Youth Lagoon) doesn’t want to be understood.  The truth is, his reverb heavy and often high-pitched vocals fit in perfectly with the dreamy aura created by The Year of Hibernation.  Not quite chillwave, this record has a bit more substance and second-listen potential than I’ve heard out of that genre.

After a couple of days filled with high-intensity, bone crushing, heavy hitting dance music, Hibernation made its way to my ears at just the right time.  This is a calm, relaxing record, but still has the complexity that I love in my music.  Who knows, maybe one day I’ll even figure out what Powers is singing.

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Day 236: Justice – Audio, Video, Disco

22 Oct

Canon

If you read yesterday’s post, you know that I instantly fell in love with †, Justice’s 2007 debut.  I couldn’t stop myself; I needed to hear more, as evidenced by today’s album.  With a pre-release date stream of the duo’s newest LP making its way around the internet, I just had to check it out.

Many fans of Justice have been disappointed with this new album.  Complaining about the high number of collaborations, as well as the frequent incorporation of vocals, the general hive mind seems to be that Audio, Video, Disco doesn’t hold up to its predecessor.

I see where the complaints are coming from.  Something that I love about † is the low reliance on vocals—the heavy beats and crunchy instrumentation do fine all by themselves. The singing on Audio, Video, Disco is fairly annoying.  All it does is cover up Justice’s still amazing heavy beats and crunchy instrumentation.

But don’t worry, there’s still plenty to like in this newest release.  Justice really knows how to put together an opening track.  Almost as potent as Genesis (from †), Horsepower got me really pumped up.  With what sounds like an electronic organ being played underwater slowly fading into ’80s cheese ball guitar riffs, followed by everything being brought together in front of a deadly beat, this opener sets a standard that the rest of the record comes close to living up to. Highlights of this album really are most of the instrumental tracks. Canon and Brianvision once again show exactly what good dance music sounds like.

While it doesn’t quite live up to †, AVD is a solid, catchy, fun record that will indubitably be receiving a lot of play by me in the near future.

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Day 235: Justice – †

21 Oct

Phantom

“Cross.”  The title of this record is pronounced “cross.”  Believe me, there’s no one in the world more annoyed than me by obnoxious things like this in music.  Symbols should not be used as record names, song names, or artist names.  While I have dealt with all three over the course of this project, I have not become any less annoyed with them.

I should really stop complaining, though. † is one hell of a record.

But first, let us back things up.  If you’re tuned in to the worlds of either French house music or hipster garbage (and why on earth wouldn’t you be?) then you already know that Justice’s sophomore album is coming out in just a few days.  (Officially, at least—it leaked earlier this month).  I’m sure the question at the forefront of your mind goes something like “why are you listening to this old ish when new stuff is just a mouse click away?”  Sure, I could capitalize on the (moderate) amount of hits that writing about a brand new record would bring in, but that’s not what this is all about.  While reactions to Audio, Video, Disco, the duo’s newest release, have been relatively mixed, † is said to be a modern classic, an example of what dance music should be, and a call for all lesser DJs to just give up.  Now that I’ve listened to it, I can agree wholeheartedly.

I know we’re in for something massive when an audible “uh-oh” escapes my lips 40 seconds into the opening track of an album.  That I am listening to on headphones. In a room occupied only by myself.  Genesis’ drawn out intro and subsequent bass-heavy mid-section of pure musical gold sets the tone for the nonstop party that is †.  11 epic beats and ridiculously catchy dance tracks later, I’m already going through withdrawal.  I’ma press play again.

† is absolutely perfect at what it is.  A dance album with a soul is hard to find, and a dance album with a human-like soul is even more rare.  † is scratchy, dark, and just crying for attention, and I’m more than willing to give it plenty.

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Day 234: Nujabes – Modal Soul

20 Oct

Feather

When I write about hip-hop, I usually take the easy way out by saying that I’m not sure what to look for.  How can I really determine if an album is good or not (beyond the very basic “it sounds good”) based on my limited knowledge of the genre? Well, that won’t be happening this time around.  Nujabes beats on Modal Soul are pretty much objectively awesome.

Jun Seba (see what he did there?) was a fantastic Japanese hip-hop producer and indie label owner.  Unfortunately, his life was taken in a car accident early last year, but his music lives on.  Modal Soul, released in 2005, is 14 tracks of amazing Nujabes-made beats, rapped over by various guest artists.  While the rhymes are of varying degrees of average, they are by no means the focal point of this record.  What stands out in my mind after a single listen to Modal Soul?  It’s da beats.

Nujabes had some serious skill in the hip-hop production department.  It takes a whole lot to get me interested in a jazzy piano riff, but Nujabes does so multiple times on this single album.  Placed in front of some killer drum machine rhythms, and chopped up enough, I guess anything can start sounding good.

While the rapping is nothing spectacular (it would have been cooler if it were in Japanese), Modal Soul does benefit from the various human voices that it includes.  As good as these beats are, this record may have not held its own as an instrumental hip-hop release.  That may just be me, though—I have never been a fan of the extremely repetitive.

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Day 233: [Various Artists] – Soundtrack to The Harder They Come

19 Oct

You Can Get It If You Really Want

Nope, that’s not the name of some obscure band trying to be clever.  While it would be hilarious if a band stylized as [Various Artists] did release an album called Soundtrack to The Harder They Come (believe me, mental note = made), I actually did listen to a movie soundtrack today.  This is a monumental Swole Ear post for a few reasons.  Not only is this the first (real) soundtrack that I’ve listened to for the project, but it is also the first time that I’ve dealt with a record put together by more than two different artists.

No, I’ve never seen The Harder They Come (the film), and due to a power outage, I’m writing this post way past my bedtime, and just don’t have the time to do my usual pre-album research.  Suggested in the comments of yesterday’s post as a way to enhance my ska knowledge bank by teaching me about the music referred to as rock steady, I’ve come to think of this genre as a tad more accessible than both reggae and ska.  With faster beats and catchier harmonies than the (limited) reggae that I’ve been exposed to, I understand why I was advised to listen to this album.

While five different artists put this soundtrack together, Jimmy Cliff steals the show as the performer behind half of the record’s twelve tracks.  (However, I do understand a few more references from The Lonely Island’s Ras Trent thanks to Desmond Dekker’s contribution).  Everyone knows Cliff’s You Can Get It If You Really Want, which works really well because of its rare combination of catchiness and guiltlessness.  That, along with most of Cliff’s other (similar) tracks, leads me to believe that that rock steady may actually have more to offer than ska.

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Day 232: The Specials – Specials

18 Oct

Monkey Man

Ska.  I’m not entirely sure what I think of it.  That’s probably why I’ve been given The Specials 1979 relese this Dad Rock Tuesday.  There are moments of this band’s influential self-titled debut that I love, and moments that . . . well . . . not so much.

I’ve never heard an entire ska record before this, and most music of this genre that I’m familiar with comes from early-nineties 3rd wave ska bands.  You know, groups like Sublime, Reel Big Fish, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.  It’s pretty clear who influenced these bands, but they definitely took a few guitar-related liberties in crafting their own sounds.

Specials is much closer to reggae than punk rock.  While this did lead to a fairly interesting 45 minutes for me, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.  As someone fairly unfamiliar with anything classified as reggae (other than the musical stylings of Bob Marley), it’s not all that strange that I found the reggae aspects of this record a little tough to swallow.  Experience tells me that a few more listens to this, as well as other ska/reggae records, should clear that up.

Additionally, there’s plenty of good ol’ punk influence to be heard within Specials.  While that is probably what kept me happy throughout most of the album, it does merge pretty nicely with the reggae elements.  Angry lyrics, angsty song titles (i.e. Little Bitch and Stupid Marriage) and fast guitars will always fly with me, even when put behind reggae vocals and an island vibe. While I am uncertain about this record after a single listen, I probably won’t remain that way for long.

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Day 231: The Vaccines – What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?

17 Oct

Nørgaard

So.  This guy just applied to college.  After a night full of tweaking (“freaking out,” for non-Evanstonians) the tiniest portions of various essays and 1,000-character responses, please excuse me if I come off as a bit brain dead in today’s(night’s) post.

Turns out, it’s a good thing that I didn’t expect too much from The Vaccines.  Their fairly standard, fairly simple, fairly repetitive, and farily easy to listen to indie rock is just what I need after this high-stress night.  It suits the wave of relief, as well as the feeling of pure nothingness, that comes with a moment like this.  But enough about me.  Let’s write about some music.

Justin Young, you’ve got one awesome voice.  It’s deep, it catches your attention, and its got a little twinge of a British accent, which I reluctantly admit, still sounds cool to me.  As for his lyrics…well, this is stuff that I would rip to shreds on any other night.  The pure simplicity (as well as idiocy) of phrases like “post break-up sex / helps you forget your ex / what did you expect / from post-break up sex?” or “I don’t mind about taking it slow / I’m perfectly aware of what I’m yet to know” just work on this temporarily-addled brain.

Above all, this is one catchy album.  I think that I would have seen that on any other night, but who knows?  I’ve trashed plenty of catchy records before.  I may have to let a second listen reveal something that I missed on this bad boy.

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Day 230: Tegan and Sara – So Jealous

16 Oct

Walking With a Ghost

Tegan and Sara (finally) made a lot of noise a few years back with Sainthood, the band’s 2009 full-length.  The Canadian sister-duo’s signature brand of emotion-filled indie rock took six albums and ten whole years to find an audience worthy of the greatness of their music.  I believed that my first exposure to Tegan and Sara came when I too was wowed by Sainthood a few months after its release, but So Jealous has made me realize otherwise.  Once again, Jack White has found a way into my musical life.

On a summer of 2007 road trip, my family’s obsession with the White Stripes was just beginning.  With copies of Get Behind Me Satan and Icky Thump in the CD player, we were all quickly falling in love with Jack & Meg. While on this road trip, I desperately needed a haircut, so we pulled off the highway and into a mall with a Great Clips.  One terrible buzz cut later, we ventured over to the complex’s Barnes & Noble.  I, because I am that guy, headed straight for the music section.  I convinced my dad to get all of The White Stripes’ music in the store that we didn’t already have, assuring him that I’d pay him back (psych).  We hit the road with a copy of a post Satan EP called Walking With a Ghost.

Little did I know that title track wasn’t an original work of Jack’s.  It sounds so much like something that he could have written that I always assumed it was a White Stripes B-Side.  Tegan and Sara’s So Jealous has proven otherwise.  When track 8 on this album got going, I couldn’t believe my ears.  All these years, I’ve been listening to the inferior version of Walking With a Ghost.  Not even a trademark Jack White falsetto can make that cover better than what I just heard.

So Jealous works really well, and only adds to my confusion regarding Tegan and Sara’s lack of notoriety pre-Sainthood.  This album is just as good as any of their more recent work.  The music industry is a weird thing.

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