Rob Swift: The Architect

This is the best Ipecac release I’ve reviewed in a long time. As you might guess from the cover aft, Rob Swift is a turntablist. In fact, he’s a member of the X-ecutioners (or was…Roc Raida passed away in 2009) who also had a release on Ipecac (of which I was not that fond).

But this…this I’m fond of. Many of the tracks are arranged into suites with “Movements,” and there’s a classical music influence all over the record. There’s samples and synths, to be sure, but many of them are strings, piano, woodwinds, and brass, all put together in an utterly modern fashion. And Modern with a capital M on top of it…the classical influences here are of a profoundly 20th Century variety. I hear Varèse’s industrial instrumentation and the spliced-together-tape experimentation of Terry Riley.

Turntablism’s such a funny beast. It’s still a completely under-the-radar genre, mostly serving as a backdrop to hip-hop, and due to technical limitations, it should be completely eclipsed by Pro Tools twiddlers. And yet, I find practitioners like Kid Koala and Rob Swift to be completely superior to anything I’ve heard in electronic music (and for the most part I can take or leave MCs as a group). I tend to scoff at musical Luddites, but maybe there’s something to actually mastering playing something beyond just these two anecdotal points and what common sense would dictate.

That last paragraph is just there because I’m finding it hard to write about this album in particular. It works best as a whole. Like a symphony, it’s hard to break down into parts that would stand alone. If I have one complaint it’s that the set-ups outweigh the meat. For example, “Rabia,” the first suite, starts on the CD’s eighth track, and before we get there we have tracks named “Overture,” “Introduction,” and “Prelude To The First Movement.” They’re all good (though there are a few throwaway moments in there, too), it’s just a lot of introduction. Like a meal of tapas instead of an appetizer and then main course.  But man, what tapas.

Rating:

Mix: “Rabia – 2nd Movement,” “Spartacus,” “Ultimo (feat. Breez Evahflown)”
– “Introduction,” “The Architect,” “Principo (feat. Breez Evahflown),” “Sound The Horn,” “Rabia – 1st Movement,” “Rabia – 3rd Movement,” “Lower Level – 1st Movement,” “Lower Level – 2nd Movement,” “Lower Level – 3rd Movement,” “Sound The Horn (Reprise)”
– “Overture,” “Story Of A Man,” “Prelude To The First Movement,” “D.R.E.W.,” “Intermission”
Song Notes: After the jump

10 Minute Warning: 10 Minute Warning

Seattle’s 10 Minute Warning’s claim to fame is that their rhythm guitarist was Duff McKagan, who would, in the time between 10 Minute Warning’s two active stints, serve as the bassist for an L.A. band called Guns N’ Roses. It was on 10 Minute Warning’s second active stint, after GnR had mostly imploded and McKagan had moved back to Seattle, that the band would record their self-titled, and only, album.

There is no reason to listen to this unless you are some kind of manic Sub Pop or Guns N’ Roses completist. I like the dirty punk riffs of the guitars of McKagan and Paul Solger, but this attempt at returning to proto-grunge a la Green River fails due to a lack of strong identity on the part of vocalist Christopher Blue. Blue, with drawn out notes and quavering melodic lines, is singing as if he’s in some alt-rock-era pseudo-grunge band like I Mother Earth, I Love You, or My Sister’s Machine, but what’s needed is more of an angry punk carnival barker kind of thing, a la Mark Arm. So for the most part you just end up with a big mismatch, and when Blue’s eccentricities do blend into the rest of the music, it’s just middling, because it doesn’t have the raw aggression that the instrumental members do best.

So the band’s got the wrong personnel for either style, and it’s confused about what style it wants to be. Side projects and the like are often meant to be experimental. Not sure if this one was or not, but either way it was a failed one. And in any case, this isn’t completely without merit, and it’s inoffensive as all get out. It’s just boring and completely unengaging.

Rating:

– “Swollen Rage,” “Buried,” “Face First,” “Mezz,” “Erte,” “No More Time,” “Is This The Way?,” “Pictures”
– “Disconnected,” “Pictures”
Song Notes: After the jump

King’s X: Out Of The Silent Planet

I started this trek through King’s X’s catalog because Dig Me Out podcast is going to review the band’s sixth album, Ear Candy and I’m kinda OCD. So I started listening to it and my first thoughts were on how familiar it sounded. I figured the band must have really borrowed heavily from these songs for their later releases, which I had. But it turns out I have this CD, too. Go figure. #MusicNerdProblems

This is a ridiculously good debut album. It’s obvious these guys had paid their dues before putting it together. The songs are all expertly crafted, catchy, well-layered progressive hard rock. They sound a lot like a less silly Galactic Cowboys (a much younger band also from Texas that they would tour with when I was in high school). In fact, you can hear how they influenced a lot of progressive bands in the decade that would follow…it’s like, even though Rush had a few good albums after this, this is where Rush should have gone.

The only complaint I have is that it’s missing a je ne sais quoi. I can’t find anything specific to criticize, but things are a little bit too sludgy/ploddy to excite me for more than parts of a song. They would somewhat publicly ditch Sam Taylor, the producer of their first four albums, stating that he couldn’t capture their live sound on record, and that may be them hearing the same problems I am. Given the excellent content, it’s hard for me to give this less than 4.5 clowns, but since the band themselves were unhappy with the production, let me use that to justify a half-clown demerit.

Rating:

– “In The New Age,” “Goldilox,” “Power Of Love,” “Wonder,” “Sometimes,” What Is This?,” “Far, Far Away,” “Shot Of Love,” “Visions”
– “King”
Filed Between: King Can (Maximum Power Super Loud) and King’s X’s Faith Hope Love
Song Notes: After the jump

Sleater-Kinney: Call The Doctor

Well that didn’t take long. Just one year and one album after their at-times-fumbling-and-halting debut, Sleater-Kinney released 12 songs and thirty minutes of almost pure brilliance.Call The Doctor is immediately so much more confident than its predecessor. The band has defined things to say and some really cool ways to say them. They are ably moving past the Bikini Kill/Babes In Toyland they were mired in a year ago, bringing in other influences like Sonic Youth (who get a call-out in the brilliant “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone”). (Check out the guits in “Taking Me Home”.)

Lyrically the band treads in the same vein (mixed metaphor alert) as they did on Sleater-Kinney, with gender-politically-charged lyrics, but now the ideas are smarter, more advanced, and more multi-layered. They’re not as easy to write off as angry riot grrrl (not that I would be doing any such writing-off myself). I don’t think Sleater-Kinney of 1995 could have written lyrics quite as bold as “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone,” where the protagonist wants to simultaneously be the object of affection to her paramour and also retain complete control over how much and how often she sates that desire. Or just try to listen to “I’m Not Waiting” and not feel your legs getting sticky:

I’m not waiting
‘Till I grow up
To be a woman…
I’m your little girl
Your words are sticky, stupid
Running down my legs

This album belongs in the collection of everybody who likes punk rock. I hear the band’s later albums are more highly regarded, but I’m going on record here as saying I don’t think that’s possible. Anyway, let’s find out. To be continued.

Rating:

Mix: “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone,” “I’m Not Waiting”
– “Call The Doctor,” “Little Mouth,” “Anonymous,” “Stay Where You Are,” “Good Things,” “Taste Test,” “My Stuff,” “Heart Attack”
– “Hubcap,” “Taking Me Home”
Filed Between: Slaughter (Stick It To Ya) and Sloan (Twice Removed)

Waxahatchee: “Hollow Bedroom”

This song was supposed to be reviewed in the Xbox Music Best Of 2013 playlist, but I couldn’t get it to download until much later.

Clocking in at 111 seconds, this is a female’s gravelly voice and two guitars, one more distorted than the other, playing basically arpeggiated chords, and then some gradually ascending, and then sometimes she mixes it up with some descending, power chords.

It’s pleasant enough, but I’m not aching to hear more. It’s a pretty big win for new music lately for it not to cause a strong negative reaction in me, so you could almost give it a full heart based on that, but no, open.

Reign Of Fury: World Detonation

You could look at this album’s cover art, listen to the record, and be forgiven for thinking that it was circa 1988. Lyrics and artwork about nuclear holocaust, anthropomorphic demon on the cover, sharply-pointed font, and eight roughly five- to eight-minute thrash rhapsodies…apart from a minute or so of Cookie Monster death metal vocals, Reign Of Fury makes no effort to incorporate anything from the last 25 years into their 2013 release.

And that’s all good because the album’s all good. I mean, it’s a bit weird that you would look back at 80’s era Testament and Metallica and think, “Yeah, we can outdo that.” Because, no, you can’t, and no, this doesn’t. But still, this proves that there are a ton of great songs from that canon that haven’t been written yet and, hell, let’s go ahead and release them as an album. They do a hell of a job with it and I can’t find much to criticize.

It’s good enough that I’m tempted to give it 4.5 clowns, but…well, I feel you could avoid veering into the faster/darker/eviller/lessMelodicer tunnel that metal’s gone down in the past two decades and still find some way to move the genre forward. With their debut album, they’ve shown that they mastered the genre as it was at its apex. I’ll be here for their next releases to see if they can show us a better way forward for metal from that point than that which we’ve taken.

One lingering question I have is whether or not this is a Christian rock band. I can’t find any explicit evidence that they are, but there’s an awful lot of discussion of God and Jesus and heaven and hell in the lyrics (see song notes below for more). Of course, with metal, it’s tough to tell, because you can write about gods, sacrifice, death, war, legends, seven sons, elven rings, and so on, even before you get to Revelations-style stuff, and it can still sound very cool as long as it’s not super overt. (For overt, see Tourniquet.)

Rating:

– “Infernal Conflict,” “Envy The Dead,” “Heaven Awaits – Hell Takes,” “Born To Die,” “World Detonation,” “Vile Submission,” “The Hound”
– “Goodbye Mother Earth”
Filed Between: Steve Reich (You Are (Variations)) and Brian Reitzell (30 Days Of Night Soundtrack)
Song Notes: After the jump

Ministry: With Sympathy

I’ve been really struggling to figure out how to write anything about this album other than WTF, I can’t believe this is Ministry, this sounds like like Dead Or Alive or Human League or any other synthpop album from 1983. I finally figured out that I was stuck because I kind of liked it…quite a bit, actually. And so I couldn’t just immediately write it off, but at the same time, it’s really hard to get past the surface level timbres and beats that are just so synthpop circa 1983 and get down to what’s likable. I mean, it’s compositionally super fucking solid, but the genre is so off-putting, like the quality just doesn’t fit into what I associate that which I associate with that genre.

And that’s really kind of the sum of where I fall on the whole thing. It’s like alt-synthpop, where it’s just a bit too smart lyrically and compositionally to get major radio airplay, and yet it’s solidly in a genre that is only going to survive if it can appeal to the masses. I guess there was like Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys and groups like that, and I can definitely hear some Depeche Mode going on, but still, this is just so much more put together, at least in terms of songcraft if not timbre, than those bands.

Although there are a few notable songs, “I Wanted To Tell Her” is the standout track on the album. There’s a female vocalist (possibly Shay Jones) who elevates the song to a new level with her melody and emotional, character-driven melody. I wish there were more of her on the album, because I love this song, but underneath her are the hit-and-miss rhythms and keyboard textures and melodies that define the rest of the album. And just like some of the full hearts below are examples of giving the benefit of the doubt to tracks that maybe really be open hearts, calling this track a mixer might be a stretch, but it’s such a standout and I do kinda want to share it.

Look, in the end, this album does not rise up above much more than a curiosity in the catalog of a band that would go on to basically define the industrial/metal hybrid in the next decade. But if I ever get the urge to listen to a synthpop album, it’s going to be this one, and I’m going to enjoy myself.

Rating:

Mix: “I Wanted To Tell Her”
– “Revenge,” “Work For Love,” “What He Say,” “She’s Got A Cause”
– “Effigy (I’m Not An),” “Here We Go,” “Say You’re Sorry,” “Should Have Known Better”
Song Notes: After the jump

Playlist Review: Xbox Music’s Best Of 2013

I don’t expect an all-encompassing best of list to suit my tastes that well, but this compilation by Xbox Music is pretty disappointing. This makes me sound old, but I feel like music is in a pretty sad state in 2013. The best stuff being made is the Top 40 R&B, dance, hip-hop, pop, etc. The rock and indie scenes are decimated. Brooklyn’s full of hipsters who have re-discovered 1983 and just decided to recreate it on their iPad and release it as something new. But all I hear is Cutting Crew outtakes.

Also everything is mixed way too loud/hot. I’m sick of hearing it and you’re sick of hearing about it, so here’s my track by track breakdown.

1. Can’t Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton) – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – I can’t stand Macklemore, but I do like this song. But even then, I just like the singing, so I guess that means I just like Ray Dalton. Also my UW alumni magazine says Ryan Lewis is a pop music icon, but I don’t think they know what “icon” means.
2. The Wire – Haim – This doesn’t have to be recorded this hot. Totally mid-80’s. And just the same line over and over. Totally sucks.
3. Diane Young – Vampire Weekend – Why is this recorded so hot? Fine song, but argh so nutsy sounds like crap.
4. Hold On, We’re Going Home – Drake – Maybe my favorite song on the mix. But still too fucking hot.
5. My Number – Foals – So 80’s. Kinda surprised I left it as open. Blegh. Naw, it’s going to broken. Sucks.
6. Closer – Tegan And Sara – So 80’s. I feel like this band is capable of so much more, but I’m not really an expert. Terrible. Lots of “oohh oohhh ooohh ooh” lyrics. And there’s that rapid squeaky vocal rise on the end of a ton of their lines, including “closer,” and that is super annoying.
7. Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams) – Daft Punk – When this song was blowing up this summer, one of my friends noted, “This song is so simple and straightforward. Can’t you imagine just anybody doing it? The only reason it’s huge is because Daft Punk did it.” I totally agree. But I also still really like it. Cognitive Dissonance. But there’s a craft here that extends beyond the simple song. The sounds are really well crafted and the way they weave in and out is expertly done. The rhythm is simple and repetitive, but I feel like there was a ton of love put into programming it perfectly right down to the microsecond so that certain parts of the track hit just a titch earlier than others…just perfectly to cause your body to move. It’s those kinds of details that cause this to be elevated above the pre-programmed track on your Casio keyboard.
8. Q.U.E.E.N. (feat. Erykah Badu) – Janelle Monáe – Given how huge Janelle Monáe is, I can’t believe there’s not a less boring song they could have picked for this. Just leaves me meh. At least until the rap. Hate the “even if it makes others uncomfortable” part.
9. Shuggie – Foxygen – Laid back crooning. Pretty cool. Too hot, but that’s a little under the radar. Reminds me of some old school vocalist.
10. Follow Your Arrow – Kacey Musgraves – SUCKS! I think she just needs to hang out with better people who allow her a little wiggle room between prude and drunk. How does something this stupid become a massive hit? Just because of cutesie references to gay love and marijuana being okay? HATE!
11. Sirens – Pearl Jam – Argh, one of the worst from their album. And it’s like 5:40? Good lord. Reviewed.
12. Easy Easy – King Krule – snot nosed brit. laid back. just him and a guitar. gawd guitar is so refreshing in 2013.
13. Open Ended Life – The Avett Brothers – I listened to this album right when it came out due to liking one other Avett Brothers song. I didn’t like it. Spending some more time with this, it is a well-written song, but his voice drives me insane-o here. Late move to full as I’m listening to it loud.
14. The Stars (Are Out Tonight) – David Bowie – Pretty much standard David Bowie. Why are so many lyrics on this playlist just “ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo?” I kinda like this song, but Bowie’s presentation often leaves me a little cold, it’s a bit too buttoned up British straight.
15. The One That Got Away – The Civil Wars – I find The Civil Wars too repetitive and long, a problem exacerbated by their ridiculously slow tempi, but I do like the first half of most of their songs. This is 3.5 minutes, but only needs to be about 2.5. The ridiculous bridge is just them dragging things out to reach some magical length that they think is worthy of a song.
16. Wakin On A Pretty Day – Kurt Vile – 9.5 minutes. Amazingly doesn’t seem that long. Seems long, just not that long. Which is even more surprising because he doesn’t cover a lot of ground. I do like it, though. You know, this is like one of those long Neil Young songs from On The Beach.
17. 25 Bucks (feat. Purity Ring) – Danny Brown – He seems to be restrained with the sung-chorus thing here. Plus it’s a bit slower and longer and doesn’t repeat at each run, so it doesn’t get as worn thin.
18. Weight – Mikal Cronin – Pretty good, upbeat, straightforward singer songwriter stuff, but less acoustic guitar than you associate with that genre. More keys and drums driving things (machine?). Multi-tracked vox.
19. Holy Grail – Jay-Z – Sophomoric. You can’t pull this off, Jay-Z. First of all, too much with the chorus…too many times. Second, you can’t pull of these lyrics: “I just can’t crack your code/One day your screaming you love me loud/The next day you’re so cold.” No, no, no. You are not getting the runaround from ladies the way a high school boy does, and even if one were to try that you wouldn’t have time for it. Finally, you can’t pull off the lyrics about how you can’t take your daughter for a walk because paparazzi, even if you do brush the lyrics aside immediately afterwards. You hardly have to parent. You probably have at least two live-in nannies. Nobody is feeling sorry for you because you can’t take your daughter for a walk. If you wanted, you could buy a private island and walk your daughter all around that island with nobody to bother you.
20. Overgrown – James Blake – Basically like every other James Blake song. Sounds great. but too long and repetitive.
21. Tennis Court – Lorde – ugh boring. repetitive. do not get the hype.
22. Chum – Earl Sweatshirt – Verse about him missing his dad makes me sad.
23. Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke – The only thing I can think of when this song is Robin Thicke -> Alan Thicke -> Kirk Cameron -> Bananas are proof of God. Douchetastic.
24. Turn It Around – Lucius – reviewed
25. The Monster – Eminem – Very good but has that problem with hip-hop where the chorus is just repeated too often. And it’s one of those choruses that is like the same melodic line four times in a row. Ugh. Also big surprise is that this song is about him.
26. Open – Rhye – On the 80’s tip, isn’t this just Sade?
27. Take The Night Off – Laura Marling – Reminds me a lot of Kelly Joe Phelps.
28. Daedalus (What We Have) – San Fermin – One of our haunts in Cambridge. Very slow. Cool orchestration with horns and chorus. Low voice sings almost deadpan throughout. Putting as full mostly out of intrigue.
29. I Should Live In Salt – The National – Something just a little off with the delivery/rhythms here, but it’s pretty good. It’s in like 17.
30. Wake Me Up (Radio Edit) – Avicii – Well hasn’t this been done a hundred times already? So I guess this guy is a DJ and the singer is another person (Aloe Blacc, who I swear I’ve heard elsewhere.) Anyway, the DJ stuff seems a-ite, but the vox and guitar really bug me.
31. Here Comes The Night Time – Arcade Fire – too hot. A bunch of decent but not great songs from bands I’ve heard countless amazing things about. This is one of them. Also 6.5 minutes, wtf?
32. Ride On / Right On – Phosphorescent – Just as laid back and hippie as you’d expect from the title. Sounds like jangling spurs.
33. We Can’t Stop – Miley Cyrus – I want the popular shit to be good. Like Madonna or Lady Gaga. This is shite, though. Amazing production…amazing. Like, the studio work is fucking textbook. So good. The song and performance are complete shit. God what stupid lyrics.
34. The Mother We Share – CHVRCHES – 80’s again. Lots of “oo oo ooo oo” lyrics. But a sweet little hooky song.
35. Latch – Disclosure – oh god hate so bad. worst song on playlist. makes me angry in first few seconds.
36. Suit & Tie – Justin Timberlake – Like this, I want the popular shit to be good like this. Though this is way too long and recorded TOO FUCKING HOT! Rapper is Jay-Z.
37. Wildest Moments – Jessie Ware – Just like Lorde and the other one on here that sounds like Lorde. London Grammar? hate.
38. Keep Your Eyes Peeled – Queens Of The Stone Age – blegh. these guys used to be so good.
39. Chamakay – Blood Orange – Reminds me of Frank Ocean. Very breathy vox. Definitely in that mid-80’s vibe, but this one I really like. I’m going to try not to think too hard about it before I start to hate it. Tasty bass line at about 0:55.
40. Hey Now – London Grammar – boring, oh so 80’s.
41. Drop The Game – Flume – Meh. Loses despite his awesome name.
42. Do What U Want – Lady Gaga – Not her best stuff. The “do what we want” is kind of a theme, huh? “Follow Your Arrow,” “We Can’t Stop,” “Do What U Want.” “No invitations, it’s a private party.” If it’s a private party then you do need invitations. still squeaks into full heart territory. I feel like it’s Drake helping out. It’s R. Kelly.
43. Do I Wanna Know? – Arctic Monkeys – Kinda black keys rip-off-y. Still like my fave thing I’ve ever heard by these guys so fine full heart.
44. She Will – Savages – Aggressive and punky. Somewhat intrigued, though I’m not crazy about it. Distorted.
45. Born To Die – King Khan And the Shrines – Kinda dirty punk, like the vox are delivered totally lazy. A cleaned-up version of Sub Pop’s METZ. This is pretty cool. Got some nice horn sounds. And it’s produced really well, doesn’t sound too hot finally. I’ll move it into full because I do want to hear more of them.
46. Stoked And Broke – FIDLAR – bratty snot nosed punk. I have to be in the right mood.
47. Stoned And Starving – Parquet Courts – It’s about being stoned and starving. Too long for the content, but I like what’s there and on a mix like this I want to be generous about what … nah, f it, it’s an open heart.
48. Man – Neko Case – A defense of men, boys, testosterone. Kinda clunks, but the strident guitar part is awesome. Might be full if not for the lyrics, which don’t resonate for me, and which don’t fit the rhythm the content wants them to have. There’s this part near the end, where it builds with a fast delivery, an f-bomb, crescendo, and then there’s a bit pause and she’s only got two words left (“showed you”) to spread out over several bars and it does not work.
49. I Come From The Mountain – The Oh Sees – Noisy melodic punk. Okay.
50. Black Skinhead – Kanye West – So how come Kanye can pull off the angry but Jay-Z can’t? Kanye’s more wiry. Jay-Z is kinda large and in charge. These are cultivated images, but the fact that Jay-Z has cultivated his business man king-like image means he CAN’T BITCH ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO TAKE HIS DAUGHTER FOR A WALK. Kanye and Eminem can, though. Because they’ve never let that chip get off of their shoulder.

Mix: “Hold On, We’re Doing Home” (Drake), “Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams)” (Daft Punk)
– “Can’t Hold Us (feat. Ray Dalton)” (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis), “Shuggie” (Foxygen), “Easy Easy” (King Krule), “Open Ended Life” (The Avett Brothers), “The One That Got Away” (The Civil Wars), “Wakin On A Pretty Day” (Kurt Vile), “Weight” (Mikal Cronin), “25 Bucks (feat. Purity Ring)” (Danny Brown), “Overgrown” (James Blake), “Chum” (Earl Sweatshirt), “Turn It Around” (Lucius), “The Monster” (Eminem), “Daedalus (What We Have)” (San Fermin), “I Should Live In Salt” (The National), “Here Comes The Night Time” (Arcade Fire), “Ride On / Right On” (Phosphorescent), “The Mother We Share” (CHVRCHES), “Chamakay” (Blood Orange), “Do What You Want” (Lady Gaga), “Born To Die” (King Khan & The Shrines),”Do I Wanna Know?” (Arctic Monkeys), “Born To Die” (King Khan & The Shrines), “Black Skinhead” (Kanye West)
– “Diane Young” (Vampire Weekend), “Q.U.E.E.N. (feat. Erykah Badu)” (Janelle Monáe), “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” (David Bowie), “Take The Night Off” (Laura Marling), “Suit & Tie” (Justin Timberlake), “She Will” (Savages), “Stoked And Broke” (FIDLAR), “Stoned And Starving” (Parquet Courts), “Man” (Neko Case), “I Come From The Mountains” (The Oh Sees)
– “The Wire” (Haim), “My Number” (Foals), “Closer” (Tegan And Sara), “Follow Your Arrow” (Kacey Musgraves), “Holy Grail” (Jay-Z), “Tennis Court” (Lorde), “Blurred Lines” (Robin Thicke), “Open” (Rhye), “Wake Me Up (Radio Edit)” (Avicii), “We Can’t Stop” (Miley Cyrus), “Latch” (Disclosure), “Wildest Moments” (Jessie Ware), “Keep Your Eyes Peeled” (Queens Of The Stone Age), “Hey Now” (London Grammar), “Drop The Game” (Flume)

Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine: 30 Something

The key to gaining some appreciation for this album was to read the lyrics. The vocal performance is delivered in this snot-nosed British punk way and Jim Bob’s Southern England accent is so thick there are long stretches where I could only pick out about one word per sentence.

Based on the band’s quirky name, the title of the album, and its light-hearted artwork, you’d expect lyrical content to be whimsical. Not so. This is basically an anti-war album from start to finish. The lyrics are brutally punishing. It’s no wonder “Bloodsport For All,” which addresses racism in the military, had trouble with British censors:

“Suffer in silence,” said Brigadier General Holmes
or change your name to Smith or Jones
Learn to live with all the death threat notes
the big bananas and the racist jokes

“Stand up and beg,” said Sergeant Kirby
lay down, play dead for Di and Fergie

Along with more straight-forward anti-war sentiments, the band touches on what happens to vets after the war. Among other topics, there’s homicidal terrorism (“Billy’s Smart Circus”) and domestic violence (steel your stomach before reading the lyrics to “Sealed With a Glasgow Kiss”).

All of this is delivered at a rapid, punishing tempo that seems warranted when you read the brutally clever lyrics and feel the vitriol being delivered. Until the last two songs where they go all The Final Cut-ish Roger Waters and deliver a couple of tracks that could have served as a connector song on The Wall. But just tacked onto the end of what had previously been a wonderfully unforgiving tirade against the establishment it falls flat. You can tell they’re trying to work in the tragic aspect of the situations with defeat instead of rage, but they don’t quite pull it off.

These guys seem to be carrying on the work of The Clash here. It’s not my style, and The Clash are not a band I’m a huge fan of. I feel like if I were British I’d be way more into this kind of stuff, but the style tends to put me off more than cause righteous indignation. Unless I’m reading along with the lyrics, at which point I’m able to feel it with these guys and realize that this is one of the best of its ilk.

Rating:

– “Billy’s Smart Circus,” “Bloodsport For All”
– “Surfin’ USM,” “Second To Last Will And Testament,” “Anytime Anyplace Anywhere,” “A Prince In A Pauper’s Grave,” “Shopper’s Paradise,” “Sealed With A Glasgow Kiss,” “Say It With Flowers”
– “Falling On A Bruise,” “The Final Comedown”
Song Notes: After the jump

Sleater-Kinney: Sleater-Kinney

The cognitive dissonance you will experience with this acerbic album is that the guitarist is the co-creator of Portlandia. The cognitive dissonance I experience is that I can’t believe this came out as late as 1995. That’s for a couple of reasons. First, I just thought the band’s timeline was earlier, yet here they are with their debut album in 1995. I had assumed their second album, which came out in early 1996 and which I own, was more like their fourth. Second, this stands firmly in the riot grrrl genre and sounds a ton like Babes In Toyland and fellow Olympians Bikini Kill, and I associate that movement very strongly with 1992. I feel like Babes In Toyland’s Fontanelle from 1992 had already moved past this sound somewhat. (On a not quite cognitive dissonance front, but definitely on a WTF note, how was this young punk band from Olympia signed to Chainsaw Records able to go to Melbourne to record this?)

So anyway, riot grrrl. It’s punk, with the ten songs clocking in a total of 22:45. A few songs are right around the minute mark in length. The band does not try to say more than what they have to say, which is really refreshing. And it’s angry. I’m speaking out of turn but maybe it’s not untrue to say riot grrrl is one thread of feminism in the 90’s. These songs all deal with young women, and they are often very angry at at least one man in their songs.

“A Real Man” is a reaction to a guy saying she needs to feel his big dick. “How To Play Dead” scolds an insensitive lover. And “The Last Song” seems to be directed at the perpetrator of a rape against the narrator/singer. Similar to Tori Amos’ “Me And A Gun” but much angrier. Interestingly, I have a really hard time listening to Amos’ song because it’s such an open vein, it just hurts. This is much angrier and vicious and I can handle it a lot better…maybe because it’s closer to how I think I would react/feel?

You can hear a lot of the melodic sense they would develop more robustly on their excellent next album, but this is still very rough. Notably, six of the seven full hearts are the last six tracks on the album, so backloaded with quality.

Rating:

– “The Day I Went Away,” “How To Play Dead,” “Be Yr Mama,” “Sold Out,” “Slow Song,” “Lora’s Song,” “The Last Song”
– “Don’t Think You Wanna,” “A Real Man,” “Her Again”
Song Notes: After the jump