I hope nobody saw today's title and thought "I guess Jason doesn't know how to start this." Today's Music That Made For an Ironic Title is Writer's Block, by Peter Bjorn & John. Now, if you haven't heard of PB&J (which makes me smile a little, I guess) that's not a complete surprise. But if you haven't heard the song "Young Folks" from this album, well, I think you should get out more. It's not nearly as omnipresent as, say Cher's "Believe" was a few years ago, or even that damned Soulja Boy song that seems to be everywhere now, but it's around.
Anyhow, this is a pretty enjoyable album. It's slightly dark indie pop, reminiscent of Architecture in Helsinki at times and DeVotchKa at others. The record as a whole is pretty jangly, if that's even a word. The songs are kind of poppy, slightly droning, sprawling and dreamy. Overall a pretty good record, if a little inconsistent at times. I've been listening to this record off and on as of late, and I still enjoy it rather than being tired of it, which is probably all you need to know. I really like the first track, "Objects of My Affection", and also "Amsterdam". "Start to Melt" is a good song too. It's hard for me to say that these songs stick out in my mind the way that, say, New Pornographers tracks do, but that doesn't mean they should be dismissed. Certainly not.
In other news:
I need to visit the library and get some more music.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Filler Song #2
This post is just to let you know I'm still alive. Music reviews forthcoming, whatever day this week I feel awake enough to write something. >< It's not funny how quickly my body goes away from my work hours to my 'play' hours, and how slowly it reverts.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Miscellany
Instead of one reasonable blog entry about an album, you're going to get some brief thoughts on a few things I've been listening to as I rebuild the music stash on my hard drive. I checked out five albums from the library this week, so there are my thoughts on all of them.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus. I'm certain I already wrote an entry about this (double) album, but I had to get it again b/c my hard drive died. It's amazing, piano-pounding music, the kind of stuff that would make Billy Joel wet his pants if it ever got played on mainstream radio. Two discs full of good songs, maybe one track that I'm not overly partial to. Maybe I haven't written about this album, but it probably deserves its own entry.
Bad Brains - Build A Nation. This album is off-beat and I like it. I could talk about the greatness of Bad Brains, about how hardcore and punk bands in the early 80's dreaded playing shows with them, because Bad Brains was such a musically and intellectually proficient unit that they would generally blow the other bands off the stage. This album jumps between punk and almost-reggae with ease; the lack of transition makes it seem like a joint album between two bands sometimes, but nothing lame is found here. This album made it onto my mp3 player for gym use, hopefully I don't get too many of the slow songs in the rotation.
The Fratellis - Costello Music. This album is fairly awful. I didn't even make it all the way through! It's not so much that the musicianship is lacking, or that the lyrics are simple, or even that almost every song seems to have a 'la la la' or 'do do do' section, though these are all very valid criticisms of the album. It's mostly that the musical structure is so simple that I think a musically aware 10 year old wrote most of it. Every song seems to be built off two-or-three measure phrasing; it just isn't complex enough to hold my interest at all. I'd say that this is what would happen if Tom Petty wrote music for the Ramones, and then decided to dumb it down as much as possible. Really, unless The Fratellis get their act together, they'll be lucky to open for the Wiggles next year. Of course, there are probably legions of 14 year olds who listen to this stuff every day on the way to high school. You poor bastards.
Guster - Keep It Together. This album has some good songs on it, but I can't say it's Guster's best - that distinction probably should go to Lost and Gone Forever. This album is a little too sensitive for me sometimes, and that comes from someone who has no shame in talking about his Cat Power albums. Still, when the songs work, they really work, like "Red Oyster Cult", or "Homecoming King" - Guster is best when its songs are both sweet and upbeat, while maintaining their nihilistic undertones. This album also has "Amsterdam", a good archetypal Guster song that brought them to radio listeners everywhere a few years ago. A pretty good album if not ambitious enough for my taste.
Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong/Live Recordings. I can't really critique this as a regular album, but it's still fun to listen to. It's got a couple of my more beloved Radiohead songs ("Everything in its Right Place", "The National Anthem") and one of my favorites ("Idioteque"). While this album is no Live From Folsom Prison, I appreciate a band that makes a live album now and then. It's just a nice way to let people know they're not a studio wonder, and that they don't completely blow in concert.
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass. Well, I saved the best for last, and that's no small feat considering that in almost any other group of six albums, Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus would give the other contenders a serious, American History X-style curb-stomping. This is a double album, chock full of great songs. There are ballads here, straight-up blues rock tunes, all driven by Harrison's wonderful voice and guitars: sometimes electric, sometimes acoustic, always controlled and leading. It's not often I listen to an album and decide that I will have it before I finish the first playthrough, but this one earned it.
It's no secret that Harrison was unhappy towards the end of the Beatles, in particular because the McCartney/Lennon songs dominated the albums and his material was given stepchild status at best. This album came out in 1970, the year the Beatles broke up. Harrison famously said that making his own albums was like "being allowed to go after being constipated for a long time". Well, sir, if only our refuse could all be so fine, the world would be a much better place.
In other news:
This week hasn't been much fun. But I think things turned around yesterday sometime, maybe? I guess on a scale of 1 to 10, I'm probably a C- right now, but still much improved from a couple days ago.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus. I'm certain I already wrote an entry about this (double) album, but I had to get it again b/c my hard drive died. It's amazing, piano-pounding music, the kind of stuff that would make Billy Joel wet his pants if it ever got played on mainstream radio. Two discs full of good songs, maybe one track that I'm not overly partial to. Maybe I haven't written about this album, but it probably deserves its own entry.
Bad Brains - Build A Nation. This album is off-beat and I like it. I could talk about the greatness of Bad Brains, about how hardcore and punk bands in the early 80's dreaded playing shows with them, because Bad Brains was such a musically and intellectually proficient unit that they would generally blow the other bands off the stage. This album jumps between punk and almost-reggae with ease; the lack of transition makes it seem like a joint album between two bands sometimes, but nothing lame is found here. This album made it onto my mp3 player for gym use, hopefully I don't get too many of the slow songs in the rotation.
The Fratellis - Costello Music. This album is fairly awful. I didn't even make it all the way through! It's not so much that the musicianship is lacking, or that the lyrics are simple, or even that almost every song seems to have a 'la la la' or 'do do do' section, though these are all very valid criticisms of the album. It's mostly that the musical structure is so simple that I think a musically aware 10 year old wrote most of it. Every song seems to be built off two-or-three measure phrasing; it just isn't complex enough to hold my interest at all. I'd say that this is what would happen if Tom Petty wrote music for the Ramones, and then decided to dumb it down as much as possible. Really, unless The Fratellis get their act together, they'll be lucky to open for the Wiggles next year. Of course, there are probably legions of 14 year olds who listen to this stuff every day on the way to high school. You poor bastards.
Guster - Keep It Together. This album has some good songs on it, but I can't say it's Guster's best - that distinction probably should go to Lost and Gone Forever. This album is a little too sensitive for me sometimes, and that comes from someone who has no shame in talking about his Cat Power albums. Still, when the songs work, they really work, like "Red Oyster Cult", or "Homecoming King" - Guster is best when its songs are both sweet and upbeat, while maintaining their nihilistic undertones. This album also has "Amsterdam", a good archetypal Guster song that brought them to radio listeners everywhere a few years ago. A pretty good album if not ambitious enough for my taste.
Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong/Live Recordings. I can't really critique this as a regular album, but it's still fun to listen to. It's got a couple of my more beloved Radiohead songs ("Everything in its Right Place", "The National Anthem") and one of my favorites ("Idioteque"). While this album is no Live From Folsom Prison, I appreciate a band that makes a live album now and then. It's just a nice way to let people know they're not a studio wonder, and that they don't completely blow in concert.
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass. Well, I saved the best for last, and that's no small feat considering that in almost any other group of six albums, Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus would give the other contenders a serious, American History X-style curb-stomping. This is a double album, chock full of great songs. There are ballads here, straight-up blues rock tunes, all driven by Harrison's wonderful voice and guitars: sometimes electric, sometimes acoustic, always controlled and leading. It's not often I listen to an album and decide that I will have it before I finish the first playthrough, but this one earned it.
It's no secret that Harrison was unhappy towards the end of the Beatles, in particular because the McCartney/Lennon songs dominated the albums and his material was given stepchild status at best. This album came out in 1970, the year the Beatles broke up. Harrison famously said that making his own albums was like "being allowed to go after being constipated for a long time". Well, sir, if only our refuse could all be so fine, the world would be a much better place.
In other news:
This week hasn't been much fun. But I think things turned around yesterday sometime, maybe? I guess on a scale of 1 to 10, I'm probably a C- right now, but still much improved from a couple days ago.
Monday, November 12, 2007
The Slow Wonder
Today's Music of the Day is The Slow Wonder, by A.C. Newman. Yes, that A.C. Newman, of New Pornographers fame. The music today doesn't really get a snappy title, partially because it's Monday, partially because the music just speaks for itself.
This is Newman's first solo album, recorded in between New Pornographers albums a couple years ago. It's very much an A.C. Newman album, clever semi-poetic energetic pop music that doesn't make a ton of sense but doesn't have to. I don't think you could dance to this, and it doesn't exactly rock, but it's enjoyable at the very least. It's very much a spiritual successor to, say, the Beach Boys records of the sixties, probably owes a little bit to the early R.E.M. records too. Some of the songs are stronger than others, but as a whole the record is very much a triumph. I prefer "Miracle Drug", "Come Crash", and "The Town Halo" in particular, but even the other songs are still worth a listen.
Somewhere there's a 'Newman vs. Bejar' debate, or at least discussion, but that's probably best suited for another day.
In other news:
I succeeded at a few things this weekend but failed at some others. Such is life.
This is Newman's first solo album, recorded in between New Pornographers albums a couple years ago. It's very much an A.C. Newman album, clever semi-poetic energetic pop music that doesn't make a ton of sense but doesn't have to. I don't think you could dance to this, and it doesn't exactly rock, but it's enjoyable at the very least. It's very much a spiritual successor to, say, the Beach Boys records of the sixties, probably owes a little bit to the early R.E.M. records too. Some of the songs are stronger than others, but as a whole the record is very much a triumph. I prefer "Miracle Drug", "Come Crash", and "The Town Halo" in particular, but even the other songs are still worth a listen.
Somewhere there's a 'Newman vs. Bejar' debate, or at least discussion, but that's probably best suited for another day.
In other news:
I succeeded at a few things this weekend but failed at some others. Such is life.
Friday, November 9, 2007
I
Today's Music That Kind Of Fits The Bill, I Guess is I by The Magnetic Fields. Again, no history lesson, let's get down to business.
This is sort of a pop record, I guess, but certainly an unconventional one. First off, the singer is a baritone, something of an anomaly. Second, there are only strings to back him up. All acoustic strings, mind you, no electric guitar, no drums, no synthesizer, thankfully no vocoder. The album manages to be hazy and dreamy, sometimes a little too pretty but usually interesting. It doesn't exactly move me, though, and doesn't rock at all. It is upbeat, and I'd have to say I prefer it to anything I've heard by The National at this point, a group I would consider something of a peer to MF due to the vocals alone. I manages to be a number of things, but it doesn't stray far enough from its roots to really be revolutionary; it seems to be an album more interesting in concept than execution. Still, it's not a bad listen, just not anything I would see myself spending hard-earned money on, not when there are albums out there by Low and Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky and so on.
In other news:
I don't have to be anywhere or do anything this weekend, just make a pan of brownies sometime between now and Monday. Should be fun.
This is sort of a pop record, I guess, but certainly an unconventional one. First off, the singer is a baritone, something of an anomaly. Second, there are only strings to back him up. All acoustic strings, mind you, no electric guitar, no drums, no synthesizer, thankfully no vocoder. The album manages to be hazy and dreamy, sometimes a little too pretty but usually interesting. It doesn't exactly move me, though, and doesn't rock at all. It is upbeat, and I'd have to say I prefer it to anything I've heard by The National at this point, a group I would consider something of a peer to MF due to the vocals alone. I manages to be a number of things, but it doesn't stray far enough from its roots to really be revolutionary; it seems to be an album more interesting in concept than execution. Still, it's not a bad listen, just not anything I would see myself spending hard-earned money on, not when there are albums out there by Low and Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky and so on.
In other news:
I don't have to be anywhere or do anything this weekend, just make a pan of brownies sometime between now and Monday. Should be fun.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Mars Polaris
Today is a real treat for you. Well, maybe not, but it's something different. Usually I blog about music that I've listened to a number of times and have a strong opinion about, but today that isn't the case. I'm going to blog a little big about some music I'm listening to for the first time. Today's Music That Jason Got At The Library Because All The M83 Was Checked Out, Dammit is Mars Polaris, by Tangerine Dream. I know little or nothing about the band and how this album fits into their discography, so let's talk about the music a little bit.
It's very atmospheric, the kind of thing that probably owes something to Hans Zimmer and his ilk in the late 1980s. This music is ominous, in that just enough happens to keep you on the edge of your seat; it's mostly guitar/synthesizer driven, without any real lyrics or even vocals to speak of. Not much to sing to, anyway, but I feel like it would easily score the tense sections of an action film or a well-presented video game. I have a hard time feeling like this will be one of my favorite albums for years to come, but it's interesting and a nice change of pace from something more singer-driven.
In other news:
I'm really having a hard time not spending money on music today. There's a new Sigur Ros album and concert film out, and a new group called Yeasayer that has an interesting album out as well. I got halfway to my car before I decided that I couldn't go to the record store today.
My office computer's hard drive died last week, and consequently I lost a good 13-14 GB of music. Most of what I was really into was put on my laptop as well, so I'm not really missing anything I was attached to, but it's still lame. I suppose it does give me an opportunity to rebuild without all the unessential music that I wasn't especially fond of, though.
It's very atmospheric, the kind of thing that probably owes something to Hans Zimmer and his ilk in the late 1980s. This music is ominous, in that just enough happens to keep you on the edge of your seat; it's mostly guitar/synthesizer driven, without any real lyrics or even vocals to speak of. Not much to sing to, anyway, but I feel like it would easily score the tense sections of an action film or a well-presented video game. I have a hard time feeling like this will be one of my favorite albums for years to come, but it's interesting and a nice change of pace from something more singer-driven.
In other news:
I'm really having a hard time not spending money on music today. There's a new Sigur Ros album and concert film out, and a new group called Yeasayer that has an interesting album out as well. I got halfway to my car before I decided that I couldn't go to the record store today.
My office computer's hard drive died last week, and consequently I lost a good 13-14 GB of music. Most of what I was really into was put on my laptop as well, so I'm not really missing anything I was attached to, but it's still lame. I suppose it does give me an opportunity to rebuild without all the unessential music that I wasn't especially fond of, though.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Rockin' The Suburbs
Today's Music That Makes Jason Sad is Rockin' the Suburbs by Ben Folds. This is an album I first got into a few years ago, after having heard "The Ascent of Stan" on the ISU radio station. I was immediately interested in it, the piano absolutely hypnotized me. It was a bit of a surprise to find out that the same Ben Folds who was behind "Brick" (which i have no shortage of distaste for) wrote this song. I was able to get this album at the public library, and never looked back; I wouldn't say this is my favorite album, but it does have a place in my heart, I guess.
This album is classic Ben Folds: both silly and sobering, piano driven, featuring a tenor voice that is equally comfortable being flippant and serious. It's probably a good starting point for anyone interested in Ben Folds, as the songs are somewhat pop-ish and generally brief.
It's alternately melancholy and irreverent, but certainly full of good songs. In particular, I am especially fond of "Annie Waits", "The Ascent of Stan", and "Not the Same". The only song I'm not overly positive about is the title track, which abandons Folds' piano for a generic electric guitar. It's still kind of funny but doesn't really have the same impact of the other songs, seems to be more of a radio-friendly throw-away.
The whole album is kind of emo, but I'll take this over anything on popular radio anyday. The last song, "The Luckiest", is probably the saddest song I can think of, a ballad about appreciating one's life. It always manages to ruin my day and basically make me feel as alone as anything ever does, but it's still great. In fact, it's what I'm listening to now, and I think I'm going to go stare out a window for a while until the feeling passes.
In other news:
I had a pretty good weekend, even if nothing important really happened. Sometimes the best days are when nothing really happens at all though.
This album is classic Ben Folds: both silly and sobering, piano driven, featuring a tenor voice that is equally comfortable being flippant and serious. It's probably a good starting point for anyone interested in Ben Folds, as the songs are somewhat pop-ish and generally brief.
It's alternately melancholy and irreverent, but certainly full of good songs. In particular, I am especially fond of "Annie Waits", "The Ascent of Stan", and "Not the Same". The only song I'm not overly positive about is the title track, which abandons Folds' piano for a generic electric guitar. It's still kind of funny but doesn't really have the same impact of the other songs, seems to be more of a radio-friendly throw-away.
The whole album is kind of emo, but I'll take this over anything on popular radio anyday. The last song, "The Luckiest", is probably the saddest song I can think of, a ballad about appreciating one's life. It always manages to ruin my day and basically make me feel as alone as anything ever does, but it's still great. In fact, it's what I'm listening to now, and I think I'm going to go stare out a window for a while until the feeling passes.
In other news:
I had a pretty good weekend, even if nothing important really happened. Sometimes the best days are when nothing really happens at all though.
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