Monday, June 29, 2009

Beat.Connection: Enough Already


I'm aware everyone's sick of this coverage, but I chanced upon this fun connection listening to the entirety of Thriller for the first time the other day. The hook of "It Ain't Hard to Tell" demonstrates a great use of an otherwise forgettable piece of a song (3:29), along with "Human Nature['s]" more prevalent synth melody. Check out this excellent map of other Michael Jackson samples below, if you dare:

Alliteration Monday: The Soft Pack


Deceptively boring.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

That's Concerting: The Roots



New tune from one of the best live bands of the decade.

Album Review: Wilco - Wilco (the album)



















“This is a man with arms open wide/a sonic shoulder for you to cry,” Jeff Tweedy sings on “Wilco (the song),” the lead-off track from the alt-rocker’s seventh proper LP. In what proves to be one hell of a bait-and-switch, Tweedy insists that despite the “knife in your back” or the “rough road” you may travel down, “Wilco will love you, baby.” Taken at face value, the lyric is a sweet (if blatantly easier-said-than-done) sentiment, and the sort of line that begs to be parroted back in concert. So what’s the catch? Well, let’s just say Tweedy and Co. spend the next 40 minutes prompting you to cry on that shoulder of theirs…though only if you’re paying close enough attention.

For Wilco stalwarts, the irony shouldn’t be much of a surprise—Tweedy has long established himself as one of the premiere bittersweet songsmiths of the aughties. What’s particularly striking about Wilco (the album), rather, is how straightforward it feels. It’s Tweedy’s most musically tame effort since Being There (and yes, that includes Sky Blue Sky), despite being as emotionally pluming as some of the best cuts off of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born. And I’m no sentimentalist—I swoon over the experimentalism of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as much the next nerd, but I’m not keen on holding the band hostage to itself. So let me be clear: Wilco (the album) isn’t a weak album because it’s straightforward—it’s weak because the music often fails to do Tweedy’s words/ideas justice.

“I’ll Fight” and “Country Disappeared,” for example, have some of album’s most striking lyrics, yet remain typified by generic, fill-in-the-blanks arrangements. In “Country Disappeared,” Tweedy criticizes the media’s exploitation of tragedies and subsequent enablement of mass rubbernecking (“So every evening we can watch from above/crushed cities like a bug”), yet it’s perhaps the easiest song to sit through mindlessly. “I’ll Fight,” similarly, points to the unacknowledged martyrdom of those willing to die for this country (in so many words), but chugs along lazily, easily forgotten amidst the flow of the album. I’m not arguing these songs should emulate “At Least That’s What You Said” (which features a raucous guitar representation of one of Tweedy’s storied panic attacks), but why sleep on such pointed material?

“Sonny Feeling,” for instance, demonstrates that Wilco can write a memorable, striking composition that’s still completely backwards (the “sunny feeling” of the song is “taken away” amidst one of the album’s catchiest choruses). The words of “One Wing” and “Bull Black Nova,” in turn, fit like slippers to the shape of their songs, the former with an impeccable chorus melody and the latter with some Noirish, stacco rhythms that intertwine in hocket beautifully.
Essentially, given the quality of Tweedy’s lyrics, some of the musical stoicism comes across as bit of a cop out. And, yes, such a critique is unfair because it’s mostly the listener’s job to pay attention, but most folks simply don’t read lyric-sheets anymore (guilty). Is it then valid to reprove a songwriter for writing a too-subtle-for-its-own-good batch of songs? Maybe.

“If the whole world’s singing your songs…just remember what was yours is everyone’s from now on,” Tweedy sang on 2007’s Sky Blue Sky. In other words, when “You and I” (the cutesy Tweedy/Feist collaboration that’s featured on Wilco) comes on Starbucks rotation for the sixth time next month, you really have no right to tell the customer humming behind you that maybe it’s not the happiest of love songs. Or, to put the matter in the loftiest of terms, the same principle allows “With or Without You” by U2 to be played at weddings and “YMCA” to be blasted in sports arenas. Sure, it’s amusing (and in the case of “YMCA,” refreshingly so), but what good does the ignorance do?

Monday, June 22, 2009

Alliteration Monday: White Denim



Sort of reminds me of "The Knife" video in a lot of ways, but with a decidedly better ending. Enjoy, and brace yourself for the inevitable Fits blowup.

Discoveries Worth Sharing: "You make it up as you go along..."



More clips like this at the NPR Jazz Blog.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Alliteration Monday: Crystal Stilts



At the buzzer...

That's Concerting: Nina Simone & Jonathan Richman

Lengthy Double Feature:



I never would have imagined that Nina Simone and Jonathan Richman had anything in common, but there you have it.

Also, Conan O'Brien is officially the dark horse.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Favorite Songs of the '00s, #1: "Disaster," The Besnard Lakes

2010 is upon us.

As I ease into a third decade, I feel it's appropriate time to document the music that has made an impression on me over the past 10 years. The great lie of all this, of course, is that "favorites" are constantly in flux and what I liked in 2003 (when I started to listen to music in earnest) has now warped beyond recognition. Likewise, I wasn't listening to The Argument or even Kid A in the early aughts, so there's definitely an element of retroactive revision attached to this process.

I haven't let taste off the hook entirely though. That is, a significant chunk of this music is not what I would label "the best music of the decade"--it's rather a mixture of songs that continues to affect me despite heavy wear-and-tear. The end result, I think, is a list that might seem obvious to some, but an honest one at that, even to the point of petty, irrational discomfort.

So with those qualifications in mind...

Come to think of it, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse was an incredibly apt title for this album. The Canadian sextet--initially formed by spouses Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas in 2003--released this charming album on Jagjaguwar in 2007 and have remained pretty quiet ever since. Like other notable Canadian indie-rock bands of the '00s (Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, et al), there's a grandiose feel to the work, due in large part to the amalgamation of orchestration and healthy portions of guitar reverb, but the band still manages to grind out their own aesthetic between the notes.

Album opener "Disaster," in particular, epitomizes the balance of grace and grit that the band strikes so well. Between the opening pizzicatos and mid-song glissandos, Nicole Lezee's gorgeous string arrangements play a large role here, working as a wonderful timbral and melodic counterpoint to the shoegazy guitars. Additional touches like the repeated flute phrase and interlocking vocals highlight what basically amounts to an incredibly delicate song that soars in spite of itself. Ultimately, the first two minutes of the song and the latter three stand alone as great ideas; the fact that they blend together so organically, building from a bedroom coo into a feverish swell is what keeps me coming back to this one.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Beat.Connection: Overnight Megalomania


Remember when it was 2004 and Kanye West was so little known you didn't even realize he produced this song? Sigh.

Still, the way West crafted this beat hints at the streak of artistic genius that he has now been beaten over our heads relentlessly. Like the Luther Vandross sample in "Slow Jamz," Lenny Williams voice has been sped up to the point of emasculation. Yet while the former sits comfortably in *ahem* slow jam territory, "Overnight Celebrity" puts a bit more bump in the ol' bump 'n grind. That up-tempo sway, combined with the somewhat static piano sample makes for a weird (but undeniable catchy) contrast in feel.

Kanye strikes platinum and, just like that, life imitates art.

Also featured on this track is the "hip-hop violinist" Miri Ben-Ari, who also crops up in Alicia Keys "Fallin'" and various College Dropout tracks. Check out her wikipedia page for a full resume.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

That's Concerting: Amadou & Miriam



Can't say I've seen a six-minute performance on a talk show ever; what an awesome occurrence.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Thank You, Internet: Honey Cone

Came across a '70s gem on a blog recently--an all-girls soul group called Honey Cone.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Alliteration Monday: Begone Dull Care



Easily one of my favorite non-narrative films of all time (HQ highly, highly recommended), "Begone Dull Care" showcases the talents (and patience) of Canadian filmmakers Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart. To make the film, McLaren and Lambart took a three-part suite composed by the Oscar Peterson Trio, calculated which frames of film would correspond to individual phrases, and then meticulously painted vibrant, brimming visuals that complement the mood of the music (bear in mind that the work is camera-less, meaning the filmmakers worked directly with the celluloid). All in all, tried and true labor; don't say Canada never gave you anything great.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Beat.Connection: Shapeshifters

Still jazzed about yesterday's post, I wanted to start a little feature highlighting interesting samples. This particular connection I need to credit to Mike Katzif (of NPR fame), who first pointed it out to me.
The allmusic entry for "Shapeshifters" only credits Llana Weaver (Invincible) and Robert O'Bryant (Waajeed) for the song, so it's unclear if the duo actually cleared the sample before using it. Regardless, really clever overlay of the introductory Spanish guitar and organ riff. Both seemingly have been sped up a little bit to adhere to the tempo, but their interaction feels natural -- a phenomenon you'd have to credit to both Waajeed and Tortoise, ultimately.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Discoveries Worth Sharing: There-a-Mims



I chanced upon this one-hit wonder jam in my iTunes today. I suppose I had never truly given it a fair listen in the past, but I had remember reading about how clever the references to individual hip-hop subgenres were (chopped & screwed, hyphy, LA gangsta rap, etc), so I just let it play.

What I hadn't realized before is that there's a theremin sample in it! You can hear it in the very beginning (0:11), but it's most prominent before the chorus begins (1:24) and later in the song. In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, explore the video below.



While the instrument has mostly been confined to '40s & '50s Sci-Fi flicks, it has also made its way into popular songs like, "Good Vibrations" (which used an electro-theremin) and "Whole Lotta Love."





Now I have a positive impression of this song instead of a soul-crushing contempt! Thanks Mims!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Jams of '09: Deadbeat Summer


Aesthetics are a fragile thing. Not that anyone can truly understand how an entity such as an “aesthetic” comes to fruition (many artists don't seem to know themselves), but somehow artists and listeners alike can tell when all the pieces of a song fit together nicely.

"Deadbeat Summer" is one of those songs that gels together so amazingly well you have to question whether the music or concept came first: In the first few bars the piece sounds like it's being played off a melted, warped piece of wax (summertime is hot, no?). The main synth riff warbles in and out of tune and, judging from the shifts in volume for tambourine hits, each part has been mixed to spill across the space a bit. By the time the snare kicks in, the whole thing feels effortless -- we've found our spot in the shade with a lawnchair and an ice pop, lethargy in full effect.

But the simplicity is deceptive! Let's skip to the chorus: the opening synth part is there, along with a secondary synth riff that floats on top and a third set of notes that's sandwiched between the two; there's hazy guitar, the bass & snare drum, the occasional tambourine snap, the bassline, and the vocals. That's eight different elements that sound more like four, all snug and accounted for.

Somehow Neon Indian has crafted an aesthetic that's so unbelievably apt for this kind of summer day it seems all too real. And yes, the music stands alone, but given how well the ideas run together, it's the kind of song you can't really imagine being about anything else -- quite the accomplishment, no?