Been on an electronica kick recently, and I'm not terribly sure why. I went through a phase when I was about 18-19 years old listening to all kinds of stuff by Underworld, Orbital and others almost around the clock, but stopped and had only intermittently listened to it since...until about last month.
I bought Daft Punk's Alive a couple years ago but almost never listened to it. During a road trip recently, I gave it a spin, only to do it again, and again...hell, the entire 6 hours on the way there was a constant barrage of the French duo's live beats emanating from my vehicle on the interstate. I remember the big fuss about the Alive tour back in either '06 or '07 but the actual album cuts I had heard from them never really moved me (I thought it was decent but not "HOLY SHIT I MUST SEE THIS GROUP" material). Back in 2001 one of my high school friends was all about them when they first got big, but I was still in my alt-rock phase and was pretty indifferent to what they were doing at the time.
That said, Alive is a very good live compilation because Daft Punk was smart enough to do track mash-ups, which is a must for any electronica/house group. Rock groups and other musicians unfortunately get a pass for going onstage and usually playing songs exactly the same fucking way they're played on the album, all in front of fans who have paid God-knows-what to see them. Because DJ's are usually hidden behind their gadgets and whatever light show emanates behind them, for them especially it's imperative to do something a little different onstage for the paying audience. They can't just put their guitar behind their head and adlib a solo in full view of everyone, because they don't have fucking guitars. They can't interact with the audience by stating "I wrote this song about..." because people who would see a Daft Punk don't give a shit and just want to dance. The whole "heard and barely seen" aura of electronica groups in concert puts a real emphasis on the actual sonic output, and for that I give them a lot of respect. REM could go on stage, play random folk music on ukuleles for two hours and Michael Stipe could go on random political outbursts and I'd bet every single person would leave the arena thinking "BEST SHOW EVER, MAN". What, they didn't play "What's the Frequency Kenneth?" Who cares, Michael "interacted" with us, yo!....bands who actually play instruments and say stuff are elevated to such levels by their fans, that I don't think said fans would know when they've been had (I think REM is fucking amazing, btw).
I still personally prefer "rock" to electronica, but I give electronica groups more credit since they have to take the stage, and figuratively fire automatic weapons into the crowd and make them dance and have a good time. Your token rock band gets to play in front of thousands who have probably memorized all of their lyrics and bought into whatever image they've projected, and are generally mindless drones marching on the orders of their dear leader, Mr. or Ms. "Really deep songwriter". Big difference.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Music Rant # 3,455 (b)
A couple days ago while mindlessly touring social networking sites and perusing the updates of people I only pretend to care about, an old friend dedicated a "status message" to the wonders of Jeff Buckley, and in the comments section was having a back and forth with someone I didn't know about whether or not he was an overrated musician only receiving praise "for dying young".
Like many, I find his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" breathtaking, but after giving myself several opportunities to enjoy his debut album Grace, and several other scattered tracks, I just never "got it".
To me, Buckley was an attractive dude with average guitar-playing ability and songwriting skills. The only real "eye-opener" (unless you're a female and a sucker for emotional singer-songwriter rocker boys) was his singing; or...well, his vocal range in particular. As a pure singer, even after a million takes and production magic in the recording studio, his voice is unpolished and lacks control, often warbling in unpredictable (which isn't bad in of itself) and needless directions. You can't knock his range and unrestrained power, however, as at times he could make Mariah Carey and Freddy Mercury look pedestrian...but whether it was youth, arrogance, or perhaps a combination of both, he just couldn't harness it for my liking.
The guy could play, I'll give him that. If he were still around today even with the same musical capabilities (which is of a fairly talented person still unsure of how to channel his strengths), I'd see a show if he were playing nearby. That said, while I'd never intentionally poke the eye of a diehard fan with a stick to stroke my e-peen in some useless internet spitfest, I do put myself in the "he's glorified too much because he died" camp. He left behind only enough music to show he had potential, but even then that potential, from what I can honestly gather, was of "a dude who someday could REALLY know how to sing". The actual music he left behind in my mind was not much more intellectually and muscially challenging than other pop stuff put out in the mid-90's by bands such as, say, The Wallflowers.
Way back in high school, I remember watching a film in class where a song by Buckley was played in the background. "Such a great musician" some classmate uttered.
"More like a great voice" our teacher, albeit somewhat smugly, responded.
I agree with the latter.
Like many, I find his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" breathtaking, but after giving myself several opportunities to enjoy his debut album Grace, and several other scattered tracks, I just never "got it".
To me, Buckley was an attractive dude with average guitar-playing ability and songwriting skills. The only real "eye-opener" (unless you're a female and a sucker for emotional singer-songwriter rocker boys) was his singing; or...well, his vocal range in particular. As a pure singer, even after a million takes and production magic in the recording studio, his voice is unpolished and lacks control, often warbling in unpredictable (which isn't bad in of itself) and needless directions. You can't knock his range and unrestrained power, however, as at times he could make Mariah Carey and Freddy Mercury look pedestrian...but whether it was youth, arrogance, or perhaps a combination of both, he just couldn't harness it for my liking.
The guy could play, I'll give him that. If he were still around today even with the same musical capabilities (which is of a fairly talented person still unsure of how to channel his strengths), I'd see a show if he were playing nearby. That said, while I'd never intentionally poke the eye of a diehard fan with a stick to stroke my e-peen in some useless internet spitfest, I do put myself in the "he's glorified too much because he died" camp. He left behind only enough music to show he had potential, but even then that potential, from what I can honestly gather, was of "a dude who someday could REALLY know how to sing". The actual music he left behind in my mind was not much more intellectually and muscially challenging than other pop stuff put out in the mid-90's by bands such as, say, The Wallflowers.
Way back in high school, I remember watching a film in class where a song by Buckley was played in the background. "Such a great musician" some classmate uttered.
"More like a great voice" our teacher, albeit somewhat smugly, responded.
I agree with the latter.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
We Be Trafficking People...
I've been pretty stagnant of late (going a few months w/o a job has a funny way of putting a clamp on your expenses), so after scurrying around the eastern seaboard of both the U.S and Canada for Christmas and New Years, my ass has been planted here in Seattle for months and I've probably wandered at most 20 miles away in any direction for any sort of activity. If you know me, that's not me. I'm no global jetsetter by any means, but I used to be that guy who would grab a friend and drive four hours to Montreal for a weekend for no reason, or hop a plane to Phoenix because I know a guy and a really good restaurant there. Even spending a few nice days outside and partaking in some fun shit here and there in the area still gives me a horrid case of cabin fever if there wasn't a random excursion to Calgary, Baja, or SOMETHING mixed in. I don't like hanging out in airports, but being in one is a great sign.
Now that money is coming in again, I'm doing my best to stimulate the economy, or more importantly, the airline industry. I have a couple weekend trips back East for some stuff in the works, and am working out the kinks to go for at least a week down in Belize next coming winter. The coolest thing on my agenda however does not in any way resemble a vacation, or something "fun" on the surface. It's actually 'Serious Business'.
The first Global Forum on Human Trafficking is taking place in Carlsbad, Ca this coming October. I've been a member of Not For Sale for awhile, dating back to college, but like many liberal, white-guilt ridden new adults who glob on to any cause that makes them feel important, once I left school I did a crappy job of keeping up with it (and other orgs). Bills, jobs, weird girlfriends, relocations...hell, LIFE, has a funny way of making things you once viewed as important take a back seat. You stop buying the merchandise, and the e-newsletters over time magically get sent to your junk folder. Since I spent most of January and February on my ass dicking around online, a friend mentioned something to me through IM and my brain starting working, which is a rare occurence in of itself. A couple phone calls to old friends from school whom, like me, let this fall by the wayside, reinvigorated that old eager-to-save-the-world self of mine (to be fair, we mostly exchanged "I can't BELIEVE you slept with that chick!" stories, but it came up. Like, once, during a conversation. But still).
Had an email correspondence recently with a heavily-invested Seattle member, and while quite frankly she annoys me a little, I can tell her intentions are sound and she's worth working with closely. For an organization as large and with such an international reach and political capital, the "foot soldier" contigent here in the States is actually quite pathetic in comparison to other countries (I noticed in particular some South American countries are very well represented and organized). Hopefully this gets corrected, and soon.
Now that money is coming in again, I'm doing my best to stimulate the economy, or more importantly, the airline industry. I have a couple weekend trips back East for some stuff in the works, and am working out the kinks to go for at least a week down in Belize next coming winter. The coolest thing on my agenda however does not in any way resemble a vacation, or something "fun" on the surface. It's actually 'Serious Business'.
The first Global Forum on Human Trafficking is taking place in Carlsbad, Ca this coming October. I've been a member of Not For Sale for awhile, dating back to college, but like many liberal, white-guilt ridden new adults who glob on to any cause that makes them feel important, once I left school I did a crappy job of keeping up with it (and other orgs). Bills, jobs, weird girlfriends, relocations...hell, LIFE, has a funny way of making things you once viewed as important take a back seat. You stop buying the merchandise, and the e-newsletters over time magically get sent to your junk folder. Since I spent most of January and February on my ass dicking around online, a friend mentioned something to me through IM and my brain starting working, which is a rare occurence in of itself. A couple phone calls to old friends from school whom, like me, let this fall by the wayside, reinvigorated that old eager-to-save-the-world self of mine (to be fair, we mostly exchanged "I can't BELIEVE you slept with that chick!" stories, but it came up. Like, once, during a conversation. But still).
Had an email correspondence recently with a heavily-invested Seattle member, and while quite frankly she annoys me a little, I can tell her intentions are sound and she's worth working with closely. For an organization as large and with such an international reach and political capital, the "foot soldier" contigent here in the States is actually quite pathetic in comparison to other countries (I noticed in particular some South American countries are very well represented and organized). Hopefully this gets corrected, and soon.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
More Useless Opinions on Music
Once on my old blog, I wrote a fairly long-winded post on the "Five albums I'd take with me on a deserted island." After listening to some older tunes recently, here comes the follow up; "Five worst albums by otherwise good bands."
Radiohead: Pablo Honey
- "Anyone can play Guitar", "You", and "Stop Whispering" notwithstanding, their debut effort was full of sophomoric lyrics, muddled string arrangements (with the exception of the boring, any-garage-band-can-cover "Creep"), and Thom Yorke's near Rivers Cuomo-like tendency of including some real embarrassing shit about himself that no one needed to hear. Luckily, I was already really into The Bends before I really gave this album a good listen the first time around, and knew that these boys were actually capable of writing intelligent songs about politics, the age of technology, and...well, more than teenage angst (even though they were already in their mid-20's when it came out) riddled with "look at me!!!" grunge/Pixies wannabe drivel. It's not a bad album, really, but only average at best standing on its own, and more importantly just fucking awful when compared to the rest of their catalogue.
Pearl Jam: Binaural
-This album failed for me for a completely different reason; it was too political for its own good. Vedder and co put so much effort into preaching social and political commentary (okay, I get it, the US really sucked at dropping bombs in Eastern Europe) that finding a coherent melody in any track is futile. If they just scrapped all instruments and turned this into a spoken word album, then perhaps I'd dig it while sipping a vanilla latte at Tully's.
Blur: Think Tank
- Actually, not a terrible album at all. I even choose to listen to it on occasion.
Slight problem. A jarring lack of Graham Coxon. Meh. Anything else by them is better
Boards of Canada: The Campfire Headphase
- Their first two major releases were awesome. This is just decent...ly boring. Maybe it's the more prevalent use of guitars. Perhaps Geogaddi and Music has the Right to Children were just 12 kinds of better. Either way, major letdown.
The Pixies: Doolittle
- Perhaps a shocker, but I never understood this album. At all. "Hey", "Here Comes Your Man" and others I find to be very good songs. One problem; they're kind of...well...dare I say radio-friendlyish.
Now, before someone attacks me with a sledgehammer, a more "pop" sounding song doesn't automatically mean I assume someone is selling out, in fact, I doubt this was their intention. But, in case you haven't noticed, Frank Black absolutely fucking sucks as a singer, and is, surprisingly, at his best blaring out-of-tune wails with his jerky lyrics.
Call me a retard, but I enjoy those moments on Surfer Rosa where Frank trails off randomly into improper spanish for no good fucking reason. The straight-ahead rock sound (for the most part) on this particular album just sounds like your run-of-the-mill good alternative music, and the Pixies are not run-of-the-mill; they're one of the most influential bands in recent memory for good reason.
Radiohead: Pablo Honey
- "Anyone can play Guitar", "You", and "Stop Whispering" notwithstanding, their debut effort was full of sophomoric lyrics, muddled string arrangements (with the exception of the boring, any-garage-band-can-cover "Creep"), and Thom Yorke's near Rivers Cuomo-like tendency of including some real embarrassing shit about himself that no one needed to hear. Luckily, I was already really into The Bends before I really gave this album a good listen the first time around, and knew that these boys were actually capable of writing intelligent songs about politics, the age of technology, and...well, more than teenage angst (even though they were already in their mid-20's when it came out) riddled with "look at me!!!" grunge/Pixies wannabe drivel. It's not a bad album, really, but only average at best standing on its own, and more importantly just fucking awful when compared to the rest of their catalogue.
Pearl Jam: Binaural
-This album failed for me for a completely different reason; it was too political for its own good. Vedder and co put so much effort into preaching social and political commentary (okay, I get it, the US really sucked at dropping bombs in Eastern Europe) that finding a coherent melody in any track is futile. If they just scrapped all instruments and turned this into a spoken word album, then perhaps I'd dig it while sipping a vanilla latte at Tully's.
Blur: Think Tank
- Actually, not a terrible album at all. I even choose to listen to it on occasion.
Slight problem. A jarring lack of Graham Coxon. Meh. Anything else by them is better
Boards of Canada: The Campfire Headphase
- Their first two major releases were awesome. This is just decent...ly boring. Maybe it's the more prevalent use of guitars. Perhaps Geogaddi and Music has the Right to Children were just 12 kinds of better. Either way, major letdown.
The Pixies: Doolittle
- Perhaps a shocker, but I never understood this album. At all. "Hey", "Here Comes Your Man" and others I find to be very good songs. One problem; they're kind of...well...dare I say radio-friendlyish.
Now, before someone attacks me with a sledgehammer, a more "pop" sounding song doesn't automatically mean I assume someone is selling out, in fact, I doubt this was their intention. But, in case you haven't noticed, Frank Black absolutely fucking sucks as a singer, and is, surprisingly, at his best blaring out-of-tune wails with his jerky lyrics.
Call me a retard, but I enjoy those moments on Surfer Rosa where Frank trails off randomly into improper spanish for no good fucking reason. The straight-ahead rock sound (for the most part) on this particular album just sounds like your run-of-the-mill good alternative music, and the Pixies are not run-of-the-mill; they're one of the most influential bands in recent memory for good reason.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Thousand Mile Stare
You know it when you see it.
Spirit broken, and soul empty. The mind is going at the speed of light, flickering through the myriad of awful images witnessed which brought the person to this horrible conclusion. It's like the body, this now hollow shell, is asking "What is there left to do or say?"
The strange thing was, I didn't see this myself on the battlefield. On the corner of 5th and Cherry this woman just stood there, staring. As corporate types and regular folk alike marched on by, emotionless and stiff she was. I couldn't help and think what brought her to this point; what hand did life deal her which led to such a jarring realization that now standing completely frozen in time became her fate. A strange sadness came over me as I began to piece my own version of what brought her to this place, and suddenly everyone around me seemed to walk slower, and cars once buzzing around us seemed to disappear. Sea gulls one by one began to shut up, and scattered vagrants ducked in alleyways. Before I knew it, literally nothing was in motion, or emitting sound.
Then...*flash*...some impatient motorist blasted their horn, sea gull shit splattered on the ground mere inches from me, and life seemed to re-enter the picture. Also, the woman in question was now halfway through the crosswalk, and I was even able to detect a smile on her face.
At this juncture I realized this woman merely was daydreaming, and I am one giant retard.
Spirit broken, and soul empty. The mind is going at the speed of light, flickering through the myriad of awful images witnessed which brought the person to this horrible conclusion. It's like the body, this now hollow shell, is asking "What is there left to do or say?"
The strange thing was, I didn't see this myself on the battlefield. On the corner of 5th and Cherry this woman just stood there, staring. As corporate types and regular folk alike marched on by, emotionless and stiff she was. I couldn't help and think what brought her to this point; what hand did life deal her which led to such a jarring realization that now standing completely frozen in time became her fate. A strange sadness came over me as I began to piece my own version of what brought her to this place, and suddenly everyone around me seemed to walk slower, and cars once buzzing around us seemed to disappear. Sea gulls one by one began to shut up, and scattered vagrants ducked in alleyways. Before I knew it, literally nothing was in motion, or emitting sound.
Then...*flash*...some impatient motorist blasted their horn, sea gull shit splattered on the ground mere inches from me, and life seemed to re-enter the picture. Also, the woman in question was now halfway through the crosswalk, and I was even able to detect a smile on her face.
At this juncture I realized this woman merely was daydreaming, and I am one giant retard.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Does Your Safeway Have a Hump?
I felt like doing some grocery shopping a half-hour away where there was actually some sunshine (it's been cloudy and foggy by the Sound for awhile now) and I was greeted by a hump.
I'll call him "Humpy".
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Oh Canada
I've been in Toronto since the 30th and will be back in Sea-town on either the 7th or 8th (weather permitting; winter in these parts can be terrific).
I actually haven't done much of anything spectacular over the past few weeks. After celebrating Christmas with the folks somewhere in the woods of New England I arrived here, and since I'm trying to keep myself on a budget I've probably spent more time playing video games than anything else.
I have tickets for Maple Leaf and Raptors games before I leave however.
I actually haven't done much of anything spectacular over the past few weeks. After celebrating Christmas with the folks somewhere in the woods of New England I arrived here, and since I'm trying to keep myself on a budget I've probably spent more time playing video games than anything else.
I have tickets for Maple Leaf and Raptors games before I leave however.
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