Shoot The Singer

New jj Sounds Exactly Like Last Year's jj...Thank God

2010-01-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

So jj apparently recorded a new album in what kind of seems like secrecy after somewhat of a breakout year. To tell you the truth, both of these songs sound like they could have been right on their last album, and considering I thought that they had probably the most underrated album of the year in '09, I'm pretty happy about this. They even go back to mixing in Lil' Wayne into what's an awesome track called "My Way." To tell you the truth, jj is kind of what Moby could and should have probably evolved into if he hadn't of turned into this radically liberal, attention-seeking, Fatboy Slim wannabe deusch, that makes about one good track every seven or eight years. They're relaxing, original, and their entire sound just comes off extremely natural to the listener.

Tribute to: Beck

2009-12-24T20:19:00.000-08:00

I have been a Beck man for what's now over half of my life, considering I just turned 29 and Mellow Gold dropped in '93. The one cool thing I've found with fellow Beck fans is that everyone has their own favorite album from him, which makes total sense considering everything he's done explores so many genres that it's hard to pinpoint one single, definitive piece of work. For me, it's Mutations. It has the anti-folk creativity of Odelay with the emotion of Sea Change, and the latter happens to be my second favorite. So here's a tribute to one of my favorite solo artists ever for the holidays via several of my favorite tracks:

My favorite track off Mutations. It's the closer which then heads off into a hidden track, but this one is classic Beck just singing his fucked up heart out in that mellow style that he's perfected.

Midnite Vultures is an awesome record. If you mixed up Barry White, Prince, and Beck, you'd get this album. This album shows off how much Beck knows his shit because when you think about it, the whole thing probably shouldn't have worked at all.

My favorite track off Odelay.

I think The Information has gotten better since it's been released. I know it's only been 3 and 1/2 years, but humor me. Guero was one of his bigger successes in a long time and everyone expected him to release something else genre-exploring, when in reality he released what was a collection of songs that probably could have fit into a sequel to Odelay that people would have been perfectly happy with at that time. The Information, to me, isn't as much of a whole album as some of his others, but it's still a damn good collection of songs and this is one of my favorites.

Sea Change is a hard album for me to listen to sometimes. After a bad breakup, I turned to this album right after and just kind of immersed myself in the lyrics. As corny as it sounds, I guess it helped somewhat. Songs like "Lost Cause" and "It's All in Your Mind," which would probably be considered incredibly depressing to most, let me know that at least this wasn't anything out of the ordinary that I was going through. Anyways, this particular song I listened to quite a bit. I absolutely love the video and I think it's one of the best songs ever written about heartbreak.

Awesome Video for Washed Out's "Belong."

2009-12-16T21:35:00.000-08:00

This video came out pretty recently and I think it's cool as hell. Chicks in 80's spandex have always done it for me for some reason. I've become a huge fan of Washed Out this year and I'm looking forward to whatever he puts out next. If any of you haven't heard his debut LP High Times yet, you're missing out.

New Swiss Band Sings in French and I Don't Hate Them

2009-12-14T17:54:00.000-08:00

I have no clue what the hell these guys are singing about, but I'll be damned if it doesn't make me happy. They're called Mama Rosin and their album is pretty solid with heavy Creole influences...go figure. I dare you not to snap your fingers to this shit. I'm willing to look passed the whole Swiss dudes singing in French thing because they use banjos, which are a universally forgiving entity.

Great Live Version of St. Vincent

2009-12-13T22:49:00.000-08:00

So this version of Actor Out of Work has been making its way around the radio waves and it's pretty awesome. Have to say I may prefer it to the album version actually, probably because I'm a fan of anything with a saxophone involved in it. Even if it's being played by an extremely creepy looking dude with a mullet in a headband.

Top Ten Tracks of 2009: 5-1

2009-12-03T20:13:00.000-08:00

5. Mat and Kim - Daylight

4. Girls - Hellhole Ratrace

3, Passion Pit - Moth's Wings

2. Phoenix - Lisztomania

1, Grizzly Bear- Two Weeks

Top Ten Tracks of 2009: 6-10

2009-12-03T19:58:00.000-08:00

10. Washed Out - Feel It All Around

9. Atlas Sound (featuring Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab) - Quick Canal

8. jj - Ecstasy

7. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction

6. Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move

Great New Band: Screaming Lights

2009-11-30T17:06:00.000-08:00

I was put on to this band a few weeks ago. Apparently they're gaining steam in the UK, and honestly I can see why. They have a psychedelic feel to them that's kind of like Depeche Mode, Joy Division, and early U2 all rolled into one. I'm a fan and their first album is actually really good. I'm surprised they haven't gotten any airplay here in the States. There's a great track called "Exit Wound" that I can't find on youtube to post, and this is all I could find. It's on their myspace page though which you can go to by clicking here. I'm sure a lot of people are going to be labeling them as copycats of Editors or Joy Division wannabes, but I guess I just think they're a band that might have something more than that in them after a few listens. Perhaps even becoming the band that Bloc Party should have become. The first song posted below is their first single. Enjoy.

The Five Best Bands from the 2000's: #1 - TV on the Radio

2009-11-30T06:36:00.000-08:00

I don't even remember the first time I listened to them anymore. I do however, remember buying Dear Science the day it was released and not listening to anything else for the next 4-5 weeks. TV on the Radio's formula is fairly simple, it's somewhat of a transitive formula for bringing several genres of rock from the 60's and 70's into the new era; we love David Bowie and Bob Dylan, but we also love modern production techniques, so we're going to make music as Bowie and Dylan would using modern production techniques. Their setup is fairly simple; dual frontmen with Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, a loose feeling of anything goes with their songwriting, and a free-flowing, somewhat unstable timeline of musical progression that you just can't put your finger on. I had a friend once who told me that she felt they were becoming more soulful over the course of their albums, and I guess there's some truth to that, but it's hard not to listen to some of their earlier work and not get sucked in to Adebimpe's voice like you would any classic soul singer.

I think what makes TV on the Radio the best is simply the fact that they're so easy to love. Beautiful, thrilling, complicated, dense; you could go on forever using adjectives to describe the type of music that they make. They're the anti-Animal Collective; they're not hard to love. They're one of those bands that after a few minutes of hearing them for the first time, one says to themselves, "yeah, I'm going to be following these guys for a while." They're the type of band that makes other people want to learn how to play instruments and start writing songs. They make albums that people put on as background music for studying, working out, driving, cleaning up around the house; you name it. They're universal for anyone who is a fan of any genre of not just rock but music all together. And that's why I think they're the best artists of this decade. They blend the wit of Elvis Costello's style of social commentary, the vocal techniques of singers ranging from John Lennon to Al Green with rhythms that knock your fucking socks off. They're an alpha=male band in a beta-male era of society. What more can a fan ask for?

My favorite track from them

On Letterman last year, this performance was just awesome.

Ahem, that's Bowie on the background vocals

The Five Best Bands from the 2000's: #2 - Animal Collective

2009-11-28T07:31:00.001-08:00

When it comes to Animal Collective, people tend to fall generally into one of two camps. You either think they're geniuses, trailblazers of an entirely new style of not only rock but music all together; or you think that they're a complete joke and their music is the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard. There's really no in-between. The former is usually composed of critics and fans who listen to such an inordinate amount of music that the mind eventually thirsts for something, ANYTHING that upsets the norm. They want music that they sometimes may not even love upon the first listen, because they want the music to earn their affection. And so they listen and listen to the layering and the samples and the hooks and the loops until they can make some sort of sense of the jumbled mess coming out of their speakers. Melody and instruments become an afterthought in the quest to find music that confuses them. This is the type of music that Animal Collective makes, it's the type of music that tends to turn critics on their heads, and it's also the type of music that their fans want. I happen to fall into that group when it comes to these two camps. I love music that confuses the hell out of me, I think that's what it's there for.

It's not so much the originality of their sound for me, it's their sheer mastery of it. Listening to Animal Collective is like watching Synedoche, New York. Either you get it or you don't. You can marvel at the dexterity of it all, or you're bored to death by it. It's really that simple. Avey Tare and Panda Bear always seem to pick the exact right spots to insert their distinguishing vocals, and their use of African drum beats mixed in with any sort of sample and hook you can imagine wind up amounting to the Beach Boys on a bad acid trip. Though listenability is certainly subjective in the eyes of many, one thing that isn't up for debate is originality. And, for me, it's not so much the inventiveness that's at the forefront of everything they do, it's their recognition that the freedoms they take in each album are best served to the listener if they're carefully controlled. Animal Collective makes music that you can only decipher with a good pair of headphones, and perhaps that's why I love them so much.

In what wound up being a hilarious performance due to his reaction, David Letterman was dumbfounded when they played Summertime Clothes on his show earlier in the year, and not in a good way. But that's the entire point I'm trying to make here. Either you love them for upsetting the status quo or you point and laugh at them for it. Me? I think they're fantastic. I think that they remind us all that sometimes you need to just shut up and explore things with a purely open heart and ear without precondition, and I hope they never get tired of working together.

The Five Best Bands from the 2000's: #3 - Grizzly Bear

2009-11-27T10:54:00.000-08:00

Precision. That's really the only way to describe Grizzly Bear. Every beat of every song, every note on every instrument, sounds carefully planned and mulled over for long periods of time before any of it is incorporated into any song. It's a wonderful thing, to see a group of musicians put this much effort into perfecting their craft. Veckatimest, in my personal opinion, is the best album of 2009. Yellow House, its predecessor, put them at the forefront of up and comers and gave them a spot opening up for Radiohead. And I guess that makes sense, because Radiohead seems content in letting its members pursue their side projects while they find the strength to get back in the studio and endure the creative process that entails making an actual album. This process, the art of the album, is becoming a lost one. It's not dead, but it does seem to be something that musicians don't seem to be as focused on due to the single track selection that fans are afforded now.

And, with that, it has come to be that Grizzly Bear established themselves as the torchbearers for that very art. Their first album, Horn of Plenty, was more or less a solo album. It's not fair to consider it with their more recent works. Yellow House was an exploration in melody, an album that seemed like the band testing its songwriting chops for some future purpose. And Veckatimest seems to have been that very purpose, as the ebb and flow of the album draws from what seems to be every single genre of music ever with the melodies and harmonies from Yellow House expanded into something more meaningful. Veckatimest is why people love rock albums so much. The anticipation of it, its dissection, how it sounds after that third or fourth listen as compared to the first, trying to estimate where the band's next album will take them, and then watching the years go by as one band after another borrows from its legacy. Getting to discover bands like Grizzly Bear is why I love listening to music so much. It's that simple.

Love this user putting Foreground to the ending of King Kong.

The Five Best Bands from the 2000's: #4 - Arcade Fire

2009-11-27T08:12:00.001-08:00

It would be an absolute crime not to include Arcade Fire on this list. If you made a list of the top-five albums of this decade (ahem, based on craftsmanship rather than personal preference), and didn't include Funeral on it, then I'm sorry but your list is incorrect. The Canadian sensations can definitely be accused of a lot of things, and rightfully so on them. Influencing the hipster culture to a d-bag level-degree, becoming highly self-involved and overrating their own importance, acting like toolboxes towards other bands...etc. But the one thing they can't be accused of is not earning at least the right to do all that crap. Hell, both Springsteen and Grohl have covered them live at their own shows. They're loved by everyone ranging from the indie basement-dweller to the arena die-hard.

I loved both Funeral and Neon Bible, and there's really no doubt in anyone's mind that absent a breakup, this band is going to put out several all-time greats in the years to come. Anyone who isn't anticipating the hell out of their new LP coming out next year is simply trying to act cool, and needs to be trying harder.

This was my personal favorite off Funeral, I love the buildup into that gorgeous last minute where they pick the beat up.

Love this track. Kudos to the youtube user for this video, goes perfect with the song.

The Five Best Bands from the 2000's: #5 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

2009-11-25T17:41:00.000-08:00

Every decade produces its share of incredible new talent that never go out of style long after their debut. They produce the kind of music that transcends generations and genres. Future artists wind up claiming them as the reason they began making music, and albums of the decades to come wind up being held up to the standards that they set. The 80's gave us Talking Heads, Sonic Youth, The Pixies, Prince...etc. The 90's gave us Nirvana, Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse...etc. You get the point.

So, which bands will people be looking at as the quintessential influences ten years down the line? Hindsight surely changes a lot of things, and many bands and albums tend to warm up to people over time, but the best of the best tend to make their impact felt immediately. Here are my top five. The Rules? Only one. No music before the year 2000. That's it. Hence, no White Stripes, Spoon or Wilco. Sorry, but I have to cut it off somewhere.

#5 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I still remember the first time I ever heard Date With the Night on the radio while I was driving. It was one of those "holy fuck" moments that as a true appreciator of awesome rock you only experience once every few years. And that's what Karen O and company are, simply awesome. Maps is hands down the best love song to be written this decade, and all three of their albums have delivered on and exceeded expectations. Whether it's on a track or on stage, there's nothing that this trio can't kick total ass doing. My only problem here is limiting the amount of songs I post from them because I don't know if they've ever recorded a song that I didn't like.

Oh, and Karen O is hot. If you don't agree then you haven't seen her live. Watch this chick on stage for five minutes and try to act like you don't want to father her children.

This is my favorite YYY's track ever below.

This song has always struck me as Maps Part Deux. Still beautiful though.

Movie Soundtracks of the 2000's

2009-11-24T20:53:00.000-08:00

(Remember when Liv Tyler was this awesome?)

So I'm going to start doing a few lists and collections over the next few weeks to bring in 2010, and I thought with the tremendously annoying new Twilight movie being released, we can at least all take a step back and appreciate the solid soundtrack they put out in accordance with the movie. And while I'm at it, I figured we can also reflect back on the better soundtracks of the decade.

Just a heads up, I'm only doing original soundtracks. Not collections. Thus, no Almost Famous and no High Fidelity. And I'm sorry but I hate Garden State.

I think for this decade, any discussion of soundtracks has to begin with the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. This entire album is pure bliss and so is the movie. It's remarkable, but O Brother has become somewhat of a forgotten movie when people talk about the Coens these days. Which is weird considering how much acclaim it received not too long ago. If you like bluegrass, George Clooney, or George Clooney lip-syncing bluegrass, this is the album for you.

I'm a huge Charlie Kaufman fan and I loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This song was recorded by Beck for the introduction and it really worked with the setup for the story to come. There's a few songs on the soundtrack that weren't recorded solely for the album, but the majority of them are, so I threw it in here. Also because I'm biased and this is my blog, so I can do whatever I want.

Also on that note, Iron and Wine recorded a few good tracks for In Good Company, so I'm throwing my favorite of those on here too.

So this is my favorite track from the New Moon Soundtrack. It's recent phenoms Bon Iver and St Vincent teaming up for a pretty beautiful acoustic track. I have to hand it to them, Twilight is absurdly femme but the roster of artists they put together for this soundtrack was damn impressive.

I loved everything about Little Miss Sunshine. From Alan Arkin's hilarious grandfather character to Greg Kinnear's psychotic revelation when he saw the pageant in action, and of course the beautiful soundtrack composed mostly by Devotchka.

I think Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood deserves a mention here for his original score to There Will Be Blood. No, it's not exactly alt. rock, but the guy's one of the best musical minds of the past 20 years and this entire score was outstanding. If you loved There Will Be Blood as much as I did, you'll have to agree that the soundtrack helped make the film as good as it was.

Another 2009 soundtrack. Karen O did a great job with the soundtrack for Where the Wild Things Are. Her punk edge translated well into the light-heartedness that was needed for the songs here. Just a great pick by the minds behind this movie for a musical accompaniment.

I thought that The Virgin Suicides was an OK-enough movie, but it's hard to deny that the soundtrack was pretty fucking good. This is probably the biggest song from it. Never underestimate the power of a good saxophone solo.

How Fucking Cool is Elvis Costello?

2009-11-21T08:21:00.000-08:00

Two Elvis Costello posts in one week? Go figure. I don't know if there's anyone else out there in the history of music who I'd rather go out drinking with for a night. The guy's hilarious and you know that he's probably entertaining as hell when he's out on the town.

Anyways, here's the clip of him on Colbert and the duet they did together. Cheap Reward is a song that's on the bonus disc version of My Aim is True, it's also only a demo version that was never recorded properly in a studio. Thus, it's not a song that a lot of people know by heart, so it's pretty obvious that between this and his past work with Costello that Colbert is a pretty diehard fan, which kind of makes sense given Colbert's personality. Costello perfected the art of the light-hearted, cynical jab at politicians in his music, and Colbert's done the same over the years with his show. Have to say, he does a pretty good job with the tune as well. I'm also going to post a few of my favorite Elvis songs with it, as he's one of my favorite songwriters of all time and I never get tired of listening to him.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Elvis Costello

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

U.S. Speedskating

Really, Really Fantastic Unreleased Track From Girls Posted on Pitchfork

2009-11-18T18:33:00.000-08:00

So if you remember, a few weeks back I posted about how much I love Girls and their debut album. Well, Pitchfork recently posted an unreleased, live version of a track called Substance and it's as good as you'd expect. The time signature and lyrics fit in with the context of their previous work, and it's got a great early 60's feel to it, much like their LP does. Yet another great song from a great band.

The Jersey Shore Serves As a Great Soundtrack to Something Other Than Guidos and Fistpumping

2009-11-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

So the big news this week, aside from Them Crooked Vultures being released and John Mayer's latest attempt to prove himself a blues genius (an utter failure by the way), is a band from the Jersey Shore called Real Estate and their self-titled debut. I remember hearing one or two of these tracks over the summer and really liking them, and now they've been given a proper release.

This band strikes a particular cord with me because I myself am from Jersey and spent countless summer nights at the Jersey Shore; relaxing on the beach during the day, heading over to a friend's house at night to pregame before heading out to the bars, maybe even grabbing a few slices of 3 Brothers at some point in the day. This entire album reflects those days and is kind of like a soundtrack to them. The only thing that sucks is that it wasn't released before the summer so I'd be able to enjoy it during the warm weather. But maybe that's what Real Estate wants, as this album is kind of reflective and its overall theme seems to be that the temporary breaks of relaxed life are there to be enjoyed upon the realization that they're never permanent. It's music for days meant for laziness when you're too busy for it.

Regardless, the entire LP is very creative and I'm really looking forward to what these guys put together for their next LP. This year, a few bands have merged that nu-folk sound that's emerged over the past decade along with the hipster-vibe that's been popularized by bands like Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, and Deerhunter. Girls, Beach House, and now Real Estate are perfect examples of this and I'm a huge fan of the genre, and I absolutely love the music they've put out. It's creative, genuine, and refreshing. One can only hope that current and emerging artists take a page from it and make it their own as well. So bravo Jersey boys, thanks for representing us well.

Elvis Costello Sabotages The Beastie Boys

2009-11-16T14:37:00.001-08:00

Got sent this video this week. Just a classic. I love how they immediately start rocking out to Radio Radio.

Spoon Kickstarts the Week

2009-11-08T18:53:00.001-08:00

In honor of the news this past week that they're coming out with a new album next January, here's some of my favorite Spoon tracks. Seriously, is there a more under-appreciated band of the past 20 years or so? Probably not. And don't you dare say Wilco, they most certainly get their due. I also love that Stranger Than Fiction was soundtracked completely using Spoon songs from several of their albums, they worked so well with that entire story.

(By far my favorite Spoon track ever. Great song, great song).

Oldies but Goodies: Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

2009-11-06T16:08:00.000-08:00

I don't know if there's ever been an album in rock history that's been released to a degree of recognition that's gained this much steam in the decade following its release. For those that aren't familiar with this album, Aeroplane is almost universally recognized as one of the top alternative albums of all-time (at least from an indie standpoint) and it's also one of the most beautiful as well. The album is heavily based on lead singer Jeff Mangum's interpretations of Anne Frank's (yes, Anne Frank) life, spanish musical prodigy Pepito Arriola, and things from Mangum's life as well. Truth be told, from a lyrical standpoint, it stands up against anything that's ever been released in the history of music. This is songwriting at its best, and to make it come across even more poignantly, Mangum sings his heart out over the course of the entire album. Personally I hadn't gotten into this album until just a few years back, and I'm so glad that I did. Not a year goes by that I don't dedicate an hour or two several times per year to dissecting it all over again. (Personal favorites for me are Ghost and the title track).

No Good Albums Have Been Released in Several Weeks

2009-11-04T18:35:00.000-08:00

I don't know what the hell is going on, but Embryonic from The Flaming Lips was the last remotely good alt album to drop and that was ages ago. Alright, fine, technically it's been like 3-4 weeks since it officially came out, but it leaked weeks before that, so let's not split hairs. I guess 2009 busted its entire nut in the first half of the year? By my count there's only been 2-3 rock albums released since July that can be classified as anything great (The Lips and XX, and there's probably another that I'm forgetting off the top of my head).

Anyways, what the fuck indie world? Throw daddy a bone over the coming weeks, would ya? Forget about blogging, I need new shit to listen to. Aside from Them Crooked Vultures and Animal Collective's EP dropping in December, I don't possibly see what there is to be excited about for the rest of '09...I guess one can hope that Vampire Weekend's new one leaks soon also.

So with that, here's some tracks from some of the better albums of the first half of a year that started off so well.

New Vampire Weekend

2009-11-02T19:24:00.001-08:00

This was released early last month, but for some reason I didn't post it and figured I would in case any of you hadn't heard it yet. I really liked Vampire Weekend's debut album last year, and if this track is any indication of what's to come on their upcoming release named Contra, it's looking like they're expanding their sound and are using some new instruments and production techniques. There's no reason this shouldn't be an enjoyable album.

And a few tracks from their self-titled debut:

Them Crooked Vultures

2009-11-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

There hasn't been a band I've looked forward to hearing this much in a long time. In case you don't live on Earth, Them Crooked Vultures is the supergroup of Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones. Their album comes out this month and they've been posting videos and snippets of songs since summer. From the reviews of their shows and what they've released, they sound pretty much like you'd expect, tight and kick-ass. They posted a new video yesterday for Halloween and it's yet another track that sounds like it's going to be awesome.

Yesterday's video.

New Fang. The first full track released last week.

Nirvana: Live at Reading (Trailer)

2009-10-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

Two pieces of new Nirvana news in one week? Pinch me.

Nirvana's Reading show has been the stuff of legend for about 17 years now. Footage has been floating around forever, but it's never been of the highest quality. It's also come to be recognized as their greatest performance as a band, and now it's being released on DVD and CD this coming month. Truth be told it's already been leaked, but that still shouldn't stop you from buying it and hooking it up to a proper home theater. You can also watch it for free on Fuse the evening of November 2nd. The official trailer's been released and the footage and recording totally lives up to how awesome it makes it look. For more info go to http://www.HereIsNirvana.com/

A Little Jim James for Thursday...

2009-10-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

Just because...

The Lodger

2009-10-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

At a house party a few weeks back, I was talking to some person about how big of a Phoenix fan I am, and they recommended this band from England called The Lodger. I'd never heard of them, but apparently they have a big following on college radio here in the US and a heavy local following in the UK. At least that's what their Wikipedia page says. Regardless, I've liked everything I've listened to from them, and if things go well they should probably gain some more steam in the US on their next album or two because their sound is catchy as hell.

Nirvana's Deluxe Edition of Bleach Leaks

2009-10-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

So the Deluxe Edition being released for Bleach leaked this past week, and I have to say, it's really good. It includes several live recordings from a 1990 show in Portland, and the sound is just fantastic. This is actually awesome for hardcore Nirvana fans, because as we all know, the sound quality on a ton of old Nirvana shows just blows. Sub Pop really did this anniversary edition the right way and Cobain really shines on them. By the way, I think the timeline would place Chad Channing as the drummer for this show, right? Dude fucking kills it in this show. Highlights for me include Spank Thru, Molly's Lips (another Vaselines cover) and Scoff.

You can either do some searching around and find it or just buy the damn thing when it comes out in a week and a half.

FYI, some of the youtubes below sound a little muffled because...well, because it's youtube. The sound quality on the actual album is a lot better than this. Scoff still came out OK though on this dude's profile.

(And if they did this for Bleach, I can't wait to hear what they dig up when Nevermind turns 20 in 2 years).

Oldies but Goodies: Brian Eno - Another Green World

2009-10-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

You just can't go wrong with Eno. He's the Dr. Dre of rock; the guy who everyone brings in as a producer when they need to crank out a beast album, and at the same time can make an all-time classic in his spare time. After the Talking Heads' Remain in Light, Another Green World remains his finest piece of work and certainly his best solo effort. I love that he focused a good amount of this album on instrumentation, it just works. This is pop music at its best, and must be included in any discussion dealing with the best albums of the 70's.

(P.S. The recent synth-pop wave of bands like MGMT and Passion Pit owe complete allegiance to Eno. Without him, they don't exist. Period).

I Love Girls

2009-10-20T17:48:00.001-07:00

The band, but yeah, the gender too.

And if you've never heard of them, before you write them off as another self-involved band with depressing lyrics, keep in mind that the lead singer of this band grew up in a cult that used to whore his mother out for prostitution and practically murdered his brother as a baby because they didn't believe in medicine. On top of that, his dad ran away early on and he took the standard path for escaped cult-kids and wound up living the gutter life for a while. So yeah, the guy has some things to rightfully be frustrated about. This entire album explores several genres and has some gut-wrenching lyrics at times. You can't help but feel for this dude. Girls are like Bon Iver crossed with Nirvana, and I love them. The reviews of their album (conveniently named Album) have been stellar and rightfully so. They're incredibly talented and I can't wait to hear what they put out next.

This Canadian Hippie's Fan-Made Videos Are Pretty Awesome

2009-10-19T22:11:00.001-07:00

I don't know who the hell this dude is, but a friend sent me the link after my mini-rant about user-made music videos, and all I have to say is that the awesomeness of some of these was a straight kick in the dick. Kudos to this guy.

A Little Hibbity Dibbity Music to Start the Week

2009-10-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

My Favorite Albums of the 2000's: #1

2009-10-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

Radiohead: Kid A and Amnesiac

What, you were expecting anything else? I grouped the both of them together for two reasons. First, I was only doing a list of ten albums and didn't want to double-up on any bands in the interest of variety. That's why you only see one album a piece by TVoTR, Sonic Youth, and My Morning Jacket. It's why Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows aren't on here either. I just couldn't clog up the list with 5 bands worth of work. Second, I believe both of these albums go hand in hand anyways.

Several months back I wrote an extremely long-winded review of the Deluxe Edition of Kid A. I wrote that Kid A, to me, was an album about the difficulties of making an album. On the flipside, I've always believed that Amnesiac is an album about how easy it is to make an album. The reason I believe this to be true is because it simply makes no sense. The tracks have no logical sequence to them, and you could probably play the entire thing in reverse and it wouldn't make a difference at all.

99.9% of the time, when bands do this, it doesn't work. It's usually disastrous actually. Sequencing, ebb, and flow are supposed to be required for truly great albums. Here's the problem though; all of the songs on Amnesiac are really, really fucking good. To make things even crazier, the songs from Amnesiac seem to work better live than any of their other work, which REALLY makes no sense. But I digress, I stopped trying to figure out Amnesiac a long time ago and as soon as that happened, I began enjoying it more than I ever had. Maybe Yorke explains it best on the opening chorus of track 1, "I'm a reasonable man/get off, get off, get off my case." Maybe, just maybe, Radiohead, for once, wanted everyone to stop overanalyzing every second of every track and just enjoy the friggin' album. In other words, sometimes music doesn't have to make sense.

And that's that. Kid A is my favorite album of the decade and probably of all-time (for now at least). It took years after its release to get there, but it was there every step of the way and I'm thankful for that. That said, it wouldn't be what it is without Amnesiac, because it just helps me appreciate Kid A for what it is. And, in a delicious twist of irony, Amnesiac's songs provided the band with its best live material in their catalog. I guess that means that both albums kind of made the best parts of each other what they are, so maybe it's fair to view them as one cumulative piece of work, especially since they were recorded at the same time, even though the band would still probably disagree.

I got a bunch of feedback on Facebook from people, so thanks to everyone for reading. I enjoyed doing this list and I'm conjuring up something similar for next week that should work pretty well too.

So, with that, here's 3 favorites off Amnesiac, followed by 3 from Kid A. Enjoy the weekend.

Amnesiac

Kid A

My Favorite Albums of the 2000's: #2

2009-10-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sufjan Stevens: Illinoise

A historical album with religious undertones via thematic exploration of the state of Illinois? Huh? Exactly. I don't know if there's another folk artist out there capable of making music as beautiful as Sufjan. Every album he puts out is a journey in spirituality, and the fact that he's used his last two albums to convey such a trip by using the concept of exploring specific states is just, well, genius. Listening to this album makes me feel like I'm right next to Stevens for the entire trip, but at the same time it's one that I have to discover on my own.

My Favorite Albums of the 2000's: #3

2009-10-15T06:52:00.000-07:00

TV on the Radio: Return the Cookie Mountain

The most creative piece of work from the best all-around band that the 00's produced. If you can't find something to like on either this LP or its follow-up (Dear Science), you're simply soulless. Regardless, you've got to love an album named after a level from Super Mario World. It's filled from top to bottom with vocals bordering on perfection, power riffs, and production work that is second to none. This album is so good that even David Bowie makes a guest appearance for some background vocals on Province. Fucking Bowie dude.

Wolf Like Me

Province

Tonight (Just a side-note, a fun part of me doing this list, which I totally did not plan on, is that I've discovered something I never really explored before; user-made Youtube music videos. Some of them have been really, really good. I enjoyed this one a lot).

My Favorite Albums of the 2000's: #4

2009-10-15T06:24:00.001-07:00

Sigur Rós: Ágætis byrjun

Remember that scene in The Shawshank Redemption, where Andy locks himself in the warden's office and blasts opera over the loudspeakers? Red's monologue describing it captures what it's like listening to this album, at least for those of us that don't speak Icelandic.

"I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are better left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can’t expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was as if some beautiful bird had flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free."

Yeah, I've looked up the translations of some of these songs, but I really didn't make an effort to remember what they were about. Like Red stated so perfectly, some things are better left unsaid. And I prefer listening to this album and making it about what I want it to be anyways. Icelandic post-rock...go figure.

Yes, I'm aware, this video is very weird.

My Favorite Albums of the 2000's: #5

2009-10-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

Bloc Party: Silent Alarm (w/Bonus Tracks)

For a while, until enough time passed and I saw how much influence Kid A and Interpol had on this decade in music, I considered this album to be the very best of the decade. I still think it's up there, but as the years have gone on, it hasn't aged as well as I thought it would. What's even made it worse is just how much Bloc Party's stranded away from so much raw talent they displayed on this album. Kele Okereke started out as one of the best combinations of lyrics and singing that post-punk had to offer, and he's gotten completely lost in trying to become fully electronic. Which is usually a cool move for tons of bands, except when it's blatantly obvious that it's everything they're not supposed to be. Especially with a guy like Matt Tong manning the kit, who was a flat-out beast throughout this album (and its follow-up for the most part). He absolutely kills it on Like Eating Glass, which is would probably be in my top-ten favorite tracks of the decade if I ever decided to do such a list.

Regardless, you have to put the Bonus Tracks edition on here. Little Thoughts and Two More Years are nothing short of fantastic songs, and they work with the context of the album perfectly. I think what made this album so great is that it captured the combination of living socially and politically in 21st century London so well emotionally and instrumentally; and there's not a lot of albums released over the past several decades that you can say that about. Please come back to us Bloc Party. We miss you.

My Favorite Albums of the 2000's: #6

2009-10-14T18:08:00.001-07:00

The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Speaking of the Lips, how awesome is Embryonic? I never thought they'd be able to top The Soft Bulletin in terms of weirdness, but I'll be damned if they didn't come pretty close. Yoshimi's certainly not their best album to date, but in my opinion, it's their most regularly enjoyable. The Soft Bulletin and Embryonic are loaded front to back with music meant solely for headphones, they only contain a handful of tracks you can listen to on the go or even driving. Look at it this way, this album is so accessible that Do You Realize was named the state song of Oklahoma recently, and that's pretty effing cool. This album just breems with confidence from front to back, and I guess it has to considering it's an entire LP about a little girl fighting giant pink robots. All hail The Flaming Lips, the most swaggerlicious motherfuckers in rock.

My Favorite Albums of the 2000's: #7

2009-10-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

The National: Boxer

I had a good 2 or 3-month span where I listened to nothing but this album almost everywhere I went. Driving to work, grocery shopping, hanging around the house...you name it. Anyone in their 20's and even 30's can get something from this LP. To me, it's just about trying to find yourself as you're growing into being an actual adult. How to deal with finding and losing loves, good times with friends, getting one's shit together after major fuck-ups...etc. This is one of those albums that makes you reflect on the path you've taken to get to where you are, and how one might want to view it going forward. It's music that's bold but subtle, uplifting but dark, and innovative yet classic. In short, it's everything about post-punk that one can love all rolled up into 44 minutes, and it always puts a smile on my face. Matt Barringer's baritone voice is just awesome. I'm jealous of anyone who's never heard this album and gets to hear it for the first time.

My Favorite Albums of the 2000's: #8

2009-10-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

The Notwist: Neon Golden

The first time I heard Consequence off of this album, I was on my way to the gym. I remember parking my car, sitting in the lot, and listening to it at least another 2-3 times over before I even got out. What a beautiful album from beginning to end. This is one of the most complete alt-electronic albums released...ever. And at least give The Notwist props for not even trying to replicate it on their follow-up to it. It's like even they realized that there's nowhere to go but somewhere else after making something like this. Neon Golden is just one of those albums that you know within the first minute that you're going to be sad when it ends.

My Favorite Albums of the 2000's: #9

2009-10-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

My Morning Jacket: Okonokos

Like I said, it's a list of favorites, and this is my favorite live album of all-time actually. Okonokos is a fabulous live recording on just so many levels. For one, it goes to further show why Patrick Hallahan is one of the premier drummers in rock today. Jim James shows that, for people who haven't had the pleasure of seeing him live, his pipes are every bit as good as they are on every recording they've ever done (look no further than the opener, Wordless Chorus, or even O Is the One That Is Real). Carl Broemel even holds his own with some unreal guitar work. Okonokos is the best live band in rock today playing their best songs on a level nothing short of awesome, and I never get tired of listening to it.

Enjoy!

My Ten Favorite Albums of the 2000's. #10

2009-10-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

Everyone loves lists. No matter what the topic is, everyone always stops and at least has a second or two of interest when they see that some random person on the internet has ranked something. So, I've decided to do these over the next few weeks, because I want to be that guy.

To start, these aren't, what I believe to be, the BEST albums. Judging whether an album is an all-time great isn't and loving it aren't mutually exclusive. I'll probably do some rankings in that context towards year's end, but this one is just going to be my favorites from the decade. Anyone who knows me already knows what #1 is going to be, but the other 9 should be fun to do anyways.

So, away we go...

#10. Sonic Youth - Murray Street

Daydream Nation is great and all, I respect it for its influence and the stamp it made on rock in general, but Murray Street is Sonic Youth at their best. It's got Renaldo's best song in the entire history of the band in Karen Revisted, and he and Thurston have never sounded as beautiful in all the years they've played together throughout the entire album.

So, as usual, onto la musica:

Karen Revisted

Disconnection Notice

Rain on Tin

Review: New Alice In Chains Will Fuck You Up

2009-09-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

A lot's happened since Alice in Chains released their last, self-titled album in 1995. One can argue that Jerry Cantrell is probably responsible for bands like Staind and Puddle of Mudd giving way to bands like Nickelback and Shinedown, polluting my once enjoyable rock stations with the musical equivalent of dogshit. Because let's be honest, every song any of these bands has ever played is such a blatantly obvious imitation of Cantrell on his worst day. And to make things worse, Cantrell actually did go on tour with Nickelback. Oy vey.

So it's a testament to AIC that throughout all the years, they've remained one of those bands that's just fucking cool to be a fan of. Any time you see someone else playing Alice at a party, in a car, where ever, there's always a moment where you have that possible exchange of: "Chains?" "Fuck yeah dude," followed by a mutual nod. Cantrell could have Axel'd on but chose not to, opting to explore some solo stuff and projects with Ozzy Osbourne, and there's some respect to be given for such a mentality.

But, alas, things change. And now we have Black Gives Way to Blue. With William Duvall replacing Staley, and I have to say, he's got some fucking nerve. It takes balls to take on the job of being the replacement for one of the most legendary voices in rock history and maybe the most messed up non-Cobain grunge figure from the 90's. When I originally heard years back that Cantrell and Co. decided they were moving forward as AIC without Layne, I scoffed, even in the face of those who told me that he was holding his own at live shows, and I'm fairly certain that I wasn't alone in that assessment.

To Duvall's credit, he basically makes anyone who considered such nonsense feel like an asshole. He makes Alice's sound his own while staying true to the traditional flavor of the band, really belting out some great vocals, particularly on Last of My Kind. There's clearly some shit that they've worked through on this album; namely learning how to play as if Layne was still there with a different voice leading the charge. Cantrell's guitar sounds solemnly pissed off throughout mostly everything, as usual, and Elton John even chips in with some piano work on the title track to close out the album.

It's crazy to say it since Staley isn't on the album, but this really is vintage Chains. What's even crazier is that the strength of this album is exactly what the strength of the band used to be; the vocal harmonies between Layne/Duvall and Cantrell, combined with guitar work that matches the lyrical content of each song effortlessly. There's clearly a few tracks here that sound right out of 1995, and I have to admit, it's too cool to hear these guys playing together on a record again. This isn't groundbreaking music and probably won't make Pitchfork's top albums of the year, but who gives a shit. If you loved this band in the 90's, you'll really get a kick out of this album. And in the end, that's really all that matters.

Grade: B+

Anyways, as usual, here's a few of my favorites.

John Lennon Takes You Into the Week

2009-09-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

My favorite Lennon track. Enjoy the week bitches!

Wayne Coyne and Bradford Cox Talk Shit About Each Other On Colbert

2009-09-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

My buddy James sent this to me. I gotta admit, as much as I love both bands, Bradford definitely looks like a dick.

(On another note, is there a cooler, more brash frontman in rock nowadays? Coyne's the Charles Barkley of indie).

Exclusive - Backstage with The Flaming Lips and Deerhunter

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Protests

Pavement Reuniting. Oh. My. God.

2009-09-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

So Pavement, one of my all-time absolute favorite fucking awesome bands ever to walk the face of the planet, is reuniting for a few shows next September in New York. If you haven't read about this by now, you lose at life. Further, if you haven't noticed, my blog's named after one of my favorite Malkmus songs ever, so this is a pretty big deal for me as I never got to see Pavement live. Anyways, thought I'd post a few of my favorite Pavement tracks in honor of the greatest news the alt. rock scene's gotten since Liz Phair's sextape came out.

Alright, I made the last part up, but it was all in an effort to convey awesomeness.

Onto la musica!!!

Elevate Me Later (My favorite Pavement track of all-time and just a total tone-setter for one of the greatest albums ever made).

Black Out (My favorite track off Wowee Zowee).

Old to Begin (The video sucks and the track's cut off, but it's the best I could find on youtube. Sorry).

Major Leagues (Off Terror Twilight. In my opinion, lyrically, this is the best song that Malkmus has ever written).

Trigger Cut (A personal favorite off Slanted & Enchanted).

Review: Pearl Jam - Backspacer. Surprisingly...really, really good. No seriously.

2009-09-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

Well slap me silly and call me Ivanka...I'll be damned if Eddie Vedder and Co didn't just cockslap the entire rock-world with the new LP dropping in a few weeks. Clocking in at just over 36 minutes, they rip through 11 tracks on what's their shortest album to date by a country-mile. I guess someone finally told Eddie that every album doesn't need to be an attempt to solve your fucking life with overdrawn out, bland, tired styles.

Don't get me wrong, they certainly don't sound extremely different or anything, but the way that they just play the songs sounds a lot more tight, sincere, and perhaps most importantly, fun. Vedder's just a dude who likes writing songs about his fucked up childhood and where he thinks his life's headed, and this is the first album since Yield where it just sounds like he's cool with being that type of guy. Gone are the overindulgent filler tracks that plagued their last 3 albums, and they clearly went into the studio with the goal of ripping through some classical sounding rock songs without concentrating too much on developing the album as a whole. And you know what? It works. The album is sequenced perfectly and they leave you wanting more at the end (something they've failed to do for quite some time now). To quote Joel Goodson: "Sometimes you just have to say 'what the fuck,' and make your move." And that's what this album is, it's the Joel Goodson of Pearl Jam albums.

It's good to hear them playing in top form again, because it's been a while. It's been 11 years since they released an overall legitimately good album (Yield in '98), so it's a breath of fresh air to know that Pearl Jam is still out there after all these years, still capable of handing me a LP that I can really sink my teeth into. I was 10 years old when Ten came out, and as man in his late-twenties, I think I'm OK with Pearl Jam releasing crappy albums from time to time so long as they still hand me stuff like this once or twice per decade. This is pop-grunge at its best, and ain't nothin' wrong with that. Welcome back boys.

Grade: A-

Here's a few of my favorites:

Amongst the Waves

Johnny Guitar

Force of Nature

Oldies but Goodies: Joy Division Tribute

2009-09-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

I've been ridiculously busy with school this week, and the only thing that's kept me pumped and consistently going is the fact that I've been listening to a shitload of Joy Division to it all. So here's a few of my favorites.

By the way, I don't care who you are or what you like in terms of genres within rock. If you're a fan of anything that's been released over the past 25 years, Joy Division would automatically be in any top 5 list in terms of influence for anything. It's not even up for debate.

Dead Souls (You'll recall that NIN did a ridiculously awesome remake of this for The Crow soundtrack).

Shadowplay (Covered by The Killers a few years back)

Ceremony (Covered by New Order themselves years later, and a few years back by Radiohead as well, which is a fantastic rendition by the way, I highly recommend watching it on youtube).

Love Will Tear Us Apart (Last but not certainly least. It remains their most popular and most covered track. U2, Nick Cave, Calexico, The Cure, Arcade Fire...etc. The list goes on. Manchester United fans even sung it in honor of Ryan Giggs when he was a player. I'm partial to Dead Souls, but most would probably argue that this is their best singular track).

Awesome Youtube Of An Entire Live Deerhunter Set

2009-09-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

A buddy sent this over to me after hearing I was a huge Bradford fan, I'd never seen it before. Pretty cool shit, and the sound quality is top notch. The video quality is also very good too, meaning you should go directly to the link and watch it full screen.

Here's the set-list if you don't feel like sifting through the whole thing, Nothing Ever Happened is at about 23 minutes:

Intro + Cryptograms
Disappearing Ink
Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Never Stops
Spring Hall Convert
Nothing Ever Happened
Famous Last Words
Saved By Old Times
Cover Me (Slowly) + Agoraphobia
Hazel St.
Circulation

New Atlas Sound Album Leaks.

2009-09-03T18:49:00.000-07:00

I originally started this blog with the firm intention of not posting illegal shit here, but Bradford Cox has become somewhat of a god in the indie world (and rightfully so), and his new Atlas Sound album leaked this week onto the interweb.

So, in my overall goal to not post illegal stuff, I'll just tell that if you were just so happening to be reading my blog, and you JUST so happened to click on the 6th link down over on my links tab, you just MIGHT come across a site where the album's posted. But I ain't one to gossip, so you din't here that from me.

And just a heads up, this album is fucking tits. Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear just got a run for their money. Bradford Cox is without a doubt a special, special talent, I'm talking Thurston Moore and David Bowie level of genius; and we all need to be crossing our fingers and hoping that he doesn't die from the clear case of anorexia that he's suffering from, (yeah, that's actually him on the cover). WTF is up with your chest dude, I mean really. Anyways, here's his collaboration with Panda Bear below, the 3rd track, off the album.

Oh, and one more thing, the quality of this album, combined with the praise that Microcastle got, only ensures that Deerhunter's next album is going to be just as, if not more anticipated by the mainstream than Veckatimest was in 2009. Just you watch.

Jay-Z and Beyonce rock out to...Grizzly Bear?

2009-08-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

Aaaaaaalrighty then.

In Case You've Been Living On Mars...

2009-08-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Almost two weeks back, four kids in their early twenties released a debut album which, by now, has drawn a good amount of critical acclaim and reminded everyone that simple pop music can still deliver the goods to alt. heads when the right band comes along. Yada yada yada...

Look, the bottom line is that if you haven't heard The XX's self-titled debut by now, you're only hurting yourself. It's one of the best albums of straight-up love songs that don't sound gay to come out in a while. It's also one of the best debut albums of the year, right up there with Passion Pit and Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The lyrics are simple and thoughtful, the band lets each song expand naturally and calmly, and the entire LP comes across as 100% sincere. The ingredients needed in order to make a good album really are that simple, and it's amazing how many groups never realize that. Just goes to show you what a little bit of confusion combined with talent can do for a bunch of kids with instruments. And the most remarkable aspect throughout each song is just how mature as a band they sound. Well done XX. I've listened to it a few times over by now, and here's a few of my favorite tracks off the album:

Heart Skipped a Beast

Basic Space

Crystalised

Thom Yorke Live Set from Last Month's Latitude Festival

2009-08-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

So I found this link on this spanish site I check from time to time, and it's Thom Yorke's live set from the Latitude Festival in Suffolk this past July (which, judging by the lineup, had to have contained one heck of a mix of people in the crowd). The sound is pretty solid and all in all it sounded like it was a great set, the highlights for me are the acoustic version of There There and the piano-driven version of Everything In Its Right Place. And Harrowdown Hill sounds pretty fucking eerie as well, I might actually prefer this one to the studio version. Enjoy.

Link

01 - The Eraser
02 - Arpeggi
03 - Atoms for Peace
04 - Harrowdown Hill
05 - Follow Me Around
06 - Everything in its Right Place
07 - The Present Tense (Nuevo Tema)
08 - Cymbal Rush
09 - Black Swan
10 - Videotape
11 - There There
12 - True Love Waits

Oldies but Goodies: The Replacements - Let It Be

2009-08-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

My post earlier this week about the similarities that exist between Paul Westerberg and Jay Reatard got me thinking. The Replacements have become quite possibly the most influential forgotten band in the context of the general younger public. Think about it; when do you ever go into a bar, party, sporting event...etc, and hear a Replacements song playing? Even worse, you could probably play their biggest tracks for random people on the street under 30, and maybe 2 out of every 10 would be able to pinpoint them as the artist. And they're probably one of the top-ten bands of the 80's.

Let It Be is my favorite Replacements album and in my opinion, their best. I'm sure plenty would disagree, but it's on Let It Be that you hear their real influence. Paul Westerberg and Co beautifully blend Beatles-esque pop rock with the punk sound that they'd originated with. Here's two tracks; the opener, I Will Dare, and Unsatisfied. Both are nothing short of classics. I can't recommend the rest of the album highly enough.

Review: Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall

2009-08-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

The term "proper LP" annoys me. I have no idea why. I'm as much a fan of a great album as the next guy. But when you've been working as long and as hard as Jay Reatard has, to me, it always seems to diminish the artist's work that he's done previously leading up to it. Reatard's been killing it for quite some time now, and on a pretty kick-ass level. The fact that this his first actual "album" is great and all, but it's not the dude's first rodeo.

All things considered, it's on Watch Me Fall that Reatard takes the reigns and keeps the sound we all know by now, channeling his own songwriting with a sonic burst of instrumentation that would make any member of The Replacements proud. And make no mistake about it, there's some real stand-out tracks here, ones that truly make you believe that there's some great things on the horizon for Reatard if he chooses to go in that direction.

Before I Was Caught follows the intro track, and it's a solid song to get things moving for the rest of the album. It almost seems like Reatard's telling all of us what his life would be like if he wasn't recording an actual album at this point, and if that's even a good thing. "I'm laying alone and bed....I try to squeeze out a single thought/But than I fall, I fall asleep/and dream about before I was caught." Hell, the album title is a pretty obvious invitation to the fact that he knew having to record this was just a matter of time.

The intro to to Can't Do It Anymore sounds like something off a Deep Purple album before it dives right into the tempo that we're already accustomed by now. It gives way to one hell of a scorcher in Faking It, where Reatard takes us through a sub-2 minute ass kicker. And that leads us into I'm Watching You. It's a song about dating a chick that simply isn't that great, but acts like she is and attempts to treat you like dirt before you realize that she's out of her fucking mind; and it's a great song. "I'm watching you, and all the things you do/To me, you see, you never were too cool/To me, you see, I always play the fool for you." It's followed up by another great track, Wounded, where Reatard picks things back up, but pays enough mind to the previous track to not do it too much. The whole album is sequenced perfectly, but it really stands out in these two tracks back to back.

Later on, My Reality gives us a possible glimpse of what he's aiming for in the future. It has some simple layering behind a great riff, with an echoed chorus in front of a basic drum roll that really sounds fantastic. I don't know if Reatard was trying to channel Paul Westerberg or not throughout a lot of this album, but he definitely does, and it definitely works.

The album ends with, what I personally believe, Reatard's greatest track as an artist yet. There Is No Sun has a great oldies-esque drum beat behind it, with a guitar riff to match. "The only thing you'll remember/Is you'll only whisper to me." It ends with some distortion and a violin taking us away from the track, which leaves you with complete satisfaction. It really is just a beautiful song and a masterful way to close out a great full-length debut, and it's almost as if Reatard's starting to realize his own potential after figuring it out over the first 11 tracks.

There's some minor flaws here and there. Things do get repetitive time to time, and Reatard's bluntness can get a tad bland sometimes. Especially since it's so obvious how talented the guy is musically by listening to something like this. It just feels like he has something so much greater in him than just a regular alternative/punk record. Sometimes you come across an album that makes you just think; "I wonder what this guy could put out if he really put it all together one day." This is one of those albums. The closing track, due to how good it is, only reinforces this belief.

But that's what's so awesome about listening to Reatard. He simply doesn't give a shit, and maybe that's what rock needs right now. Whenever I'm done listening to his music, I always feel like smoking cigarettes and telling some random person to fuck off. And I don't even smoke. One thing's for sure, you won't be hearing him on your larger radio stations any time soon, or seeing any of these tracks in one of HBO's dramatic commercials where they're advertising all their shows with some obscure track from a semi-popular band. I guess that, for now, we should just be happy that minds like his exist out there. The ones that aren't afraid to just pick up a guitar and say "let's do this," regardless of whether it's for a LP or not. And I think Reatard's OK with being that type of guy right now; I sure as hell know I am.

Grade - A-

Review: Radiohead - Kid A (Deluxe Edition)

2009-08-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

I was 19 years old when Kid A came out. I hadn't made it past my freshman year of college (at that point at least), and didn't return to school in favor of taking some random temp job in data entry in the financial district in Manhattan. I still remember heading over to the mall at South Street Seaport Mall the day it was released on CD to buy it on lunch. I wasn't a diehard Radiohead fan at this point, I really, really liked The Bends a lot and certainly loved OK Computer as much as the next alternative junkie, but I can't say that I ever imagined myself caring about them as much as I do now at this point in my life.

Getting back to work, I popped the CD into my computer, plugged my headphones in, and listened away as I plugged away at tedious computer work. I'm fairly certain I skipped over a few tracks after hearing the first few seconds, then got to The National Anthem, listened, loved it, and skipped ahead again straight to Optimistic.

Then I distinctly remember something weird happening; Idioteque came on after Optimistic, and I grabbed the CD case again, and just stared at it through the entire song. WTF was I listening to? No fucking way was this Radiohead. But it was. It was Radiohead, and this was how they were going to be proceeding with music from this point on.

And that was that. My life hasn't been the same since, at least from a musical standpoint. Over the past 9 years, I've just flat-out submitted myself to this album. It's the band's finest work and the best album of the decade. If I had to make a list of the greatest rock albums ever, I'd have it in my top 5. So many people would disagree and too many are so quick to dismiss it as a failed electronic attempt, but you really can't argue with how the band's direction post-Kid A has entrenched their position as the one and only alternative supergroup who still maintains credibility amongst so many pretentious indie-heads and the mainstream at the same time.

But that's what's great about Kid A. It means something different to everyone else. Literally, everyone. Even friends of mine with great musical tastes, who've never come around on it, can point to it and explain why Kid A makes them appreciate OK Computer that much more. Chuck Klosterman dedicated an entire fucking chapter of a book towards analyzing its similarities to 9/11.

To me though, Kid A is simply an album about the difficulties of making an album. Even more so, making an album after making an album like OK Computer. You can hear it in Thom Yorke's indiscernible voice on the second (album-titled) track: "I slipped away/I slipped away on a little white lie...We've got heads on sticks/You've got ventriloquists." The fact that Yorke makes his voice so hard to make out throughout this giant middle finger to fans expecting the same or record companies demanding OK part deux is something I've come to appreciate so much more over the years. The hidden track at the end conveys the same message. It's almost like Yorke and the boys are saying to everyone: "Here's a hidden track, it sounds nothing like music, fuck you." I just love that.

Quoting Optimistic to reinforce this opinion is almost too easy. The entire chorus is a message from Yorke's girlfriend as a source of encouragement towards his struggles in getting the damn album done ("You can try the best you can,/you can try the best you can/the best you can is always good enough). It's also one of Phil Selway's finest moments of a drummer as well, with the backbeat remaining constant and soft in the background, giving Greenwood and Ed O'Brien room to expand with their sounds, until he just totally takes over with a brilliant sequence of drum-rolls to take the song into that beautifully crazed jazz ending.

The rest of the album takes us in the same direction, from the ambience of Treefingers to the queazy, roller-coaster-like nausea that In Limbo causes anyone who's listening with a good pair of headphones. Peaking with Idioteque, a song that Pitchfork just named a top 10 track for the decade and rightfully so. It's Kid A's highlight, and, as a single track, is Radiohead's magnum opus. It takes us right into Morning Bell, where Yorke sings: "The lights are on but nobody's home/Nobody wants to be a slave/Walking, walking, walking, walking." By extolling how boxed in the band feels by what The Bends and OK Computer made them throughout the 90's, they're in fact breaking free from those albums.

And that's what's so fucking beautiful about the entire record. As people, we're taught that true vindication of self only comes through breaking through your own personal barriers. Kid A teaches us that the same stigma holds true for bands, and music as a whole. Alternative music doesn't have to be boxed in by the instrumental limitations of grunge. It can expand and command an entire spectrum of genres and experimentation.

The live bonus tracks here come through as you'd expect. A great version of True Love Waits (one of the group's most underrated songs lyrically), BBC recordings, several great tracks from a session at Canal+ Studios in Paris, and for the Idioteque nuts, there's a version from that studio and also a BBC version. As far as I'm concerned, the more versions of Idioteque I get to hear, the better. All in all, you get 13 new live versions of tracks we've already grown to love. For fans, these tracks are a must hear. There's obviously no need to buy the entire album again, it hasn't been remastered or anything, and the bonus tracks can be individually purchased anyways. Though I suspect completists will probably do so anyways.

In the end, plenty of people will voice their displeasure towards this album as long as rock music lives on. And that's cool, because unlike people who try to hate Nevermind nowadays, Kid A is at least understandable to hate. It's easy to dislike music that takes this much effort to listen to. It's why you don't hear Animal Collective playing at your local bar, or your average house party blasting Portishead. Because albums like this put you in a bottle, shake you up for for 50 minutes, and when they pour you back out, you're never the same again; simply put, music like that isn't always easy for everyone to entrench themselves in.

Since I bought this album that day in Manhattan, I've gone back to school, gotten a bachelors degree from Rutgers, moved several times, gone through several girlfriends, moved to Baltimore, gotten a Masters degree, and I'm currently applying for PhD programs. Go figure. And I still have no idea where my life is headed. In the end, Kid A has enough proponents to help its greatness live on in the hearts and minds in those of us who've truly come to love this album for what it is; a reflection of ourselves as the world keeps changing, for ourselves and for each other, and how nobody really knows just how to handle it.

Grade: A+