Van Halen - Van Halen

Van Halen - Van Halen

Published in 1978

Wikipedia

Sometimes, one realizes that they have more awesome friends than they thought they did.  I mean, one knew that their friends were fucking awesome, and knew that was why they were their friends, but it takes a special kind of moment to realize just how awesome their friends are in context.  That is why there is the Guest Album Project, and that is why I am proud to call these people my friends.  

This one is about Van Halen, one of the best examples of late 70's to 80's rock on record, and one of my favorite bands to listen to when I am on the road.  The write up is performed by one Zach Gallegos, a man I have frequently mentioned on the project, who is in the three album suggestions club, and has another one on the way.  Awesome write up, just awesome.

Hello TAP readers! This is my first post on TAP as a guest contributor to my friend Matt’s excellent site here. My name’s Zach, I’ve known Matt for longer than I care to admit and hopefully these entries will stand up to the previous work. I’ll warn the readers now that unlike Matt I am a bit more biased in my music selection. This doesn’t preclude me from doing different genres. I actually enjoy pretty much everything, no lie. Country, Metal, Hip Hop and I even have some French club tracks on the old iTunes. All this means is I don’t give a fuck if you want me to listen to something, I’m gunna do my own thing and you’re gunna like it. GOT IT?! YOU’LL READ THIS AND THEN LISTEN TO THESE ALBUMS AND YOU’LL FUCKING LIKE IT!!! Sorry, I have outbursts from time to time. Which brings me to my next point; if the cursing offends you then fuck you. Enjoy. 

My first album project contribution will be that of Van Halen’s “Van Halen”.  You see ladies and gentlemen the band Van Halen has a special place in my heart not only for dear Edward’s face melting licks but also that I grew up listening to Van Halen. Yes that’s right I’m 25 and grew up listening to Van Halen. The reason for this lies with my father. Van Halen was the first band my dad saw live and one of his, if not the, all time favorite. So yes ladies and gentlemen the cradle did indeed ROCK. This album to me though is the quintessential Van Halen test piece. It has everything a true Van Halen fan would want. Screaming licks from Eddie on tracks like Eruption and Ain’t Talkin Bout Love, a classic cover in You Really Got Me and of course the cool lyrical stylings of one David Lee Roth. And lord knows if you’re anything like me you prefer, dare I say DEMAND, David Lee Roth over one Sammy Hagar. I, unlike apparently most of the people who actually grew up in the 80’s, have not developed an immunity to the terribleness of Sammy Hagar. When I hear Sammy Hagar’s voice I want to perforate my ear drums. No I can’t drive 55 but I certainly can’t listen to you without contemplating homicide sir. I digress.  

I played a lot of guitar as a kid and Eddie Van Halen is a god to all guitar wielding prepubescent boys so naturally I’ve taken a stab or two at some of his classic riffs but for me nothing screams early Van Halen like the phaser in Ain’t Talkin Bout Love. That riff is powerful and crushing all the while simplistic. When Ain’t Talkin Bout Love comes on some of the TERRIBLE radio stations down here in the bible belt it is a GOD SEND (no pun intended). When you hear this song you can’t help but crank it, roll down the windows, look at Weezy next to you at the stop light and give him the nod. Yea I hear your subwoofer but do you FEEL that fucking phaser bro?! Didn’t think so.  

Now sadly like ANY great album there’s a track or two you could do without. For me it’s the overly typical 80’s tracks. Things like I’m The One or Ice Cream Man. But at the end of the day will you take these mediocre tracks with the likes of Jamie’s Cryin and Runnin With the Devil? Fuck yes you will because you’re a god damned American. And if you’re not an American I’d wager you’ll still be down to rock out. When I hear Van Halen’s signature sound I can’t help but get super motivated and I think if you were to put this album on you’d understand right away within the first 30 seconds of Runnin With the Devil. Between the beat on the drums and the pace of the guitar your blood boils. There are also some easily overlooked details in these tracks. One of my favorites is the haunting hook on Little Dreamer. That harmony on the “oooooh”s has this epic hollow feel that makes those little hairs you try to get rid of on your ears stand up.  

All in all this is one of the greatest rock works of all time let alone that decade. If you disagree I’m all for it but I want to hear why haters. TELL ME WHY!!! That’s all I’ve got for this entry but I look forward to hearing your opinions (no really I do please don’t be fooled). Also while you’re at it take some time to visit the sites linked on this page and if you can spare it Give Phil Five guys. Thanks for taking the time to read my bullshit.

And that, my friends, is why we have friends.

I think he nailed this album, one of my favorites of the era.  I don't have anything really personal to say about it, other than this is a great, not optional album, and you really should hear it, merely so you can hear Eddie Van Halen play it.

"Okay, Clone Wars." "Zing."
Matt

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

Published in 2006

Wikipedia

AVClub - Best of 2006 #1

So, today is February 17th in my reality, but if you're seeing this, it's actually March 26th to you.  So, I'm working at about a month backlog, which is quite nice.  I've found that this is about as far ahead as I can get without getting burnt out.

I figured I'd do an inside The Album Project post for a couple of reasons.  First, I have no personal attachment to this album, so I can be more objective in the way I am treating it.  Second, Best of March is kind of boring to write about, because they albums are generally too good, but not my style.  Third, I'm sitting at school on graduation day, just waiting for time to pass.  So maybe I'll get a bit more of a backlog by the time this is done, but I can always spend some time on this.

When I sit down to write an album project, my first step is, unsurprisingly to listen to the album at least once.  I try to not do that much while I am doing that, chatting on the internet is the most time consuming task, and I don't find it that distracting.  I actually enjoy polling my friends that I chat with about their opinions about bands and sounds and what they like.  This makes it a lot easier for me to get the writing flowing too.  So, last night, after I finished writing some stuff for another project, I put on The Hold Steady, and just hung out and chatted with people.

Since I don't personally know that any of my friends were big fans, I just chatted and set up the header for this album project.  Usually just three searches on google, one for album cover, one for the wiki and, in this case, one for the AVClub.  I actually try to avoid reading these, because I am trying to give you just my opinions without being shaded by the outside.  Some albums are already spoiled for me, but these are usually the ones that I already have a bunch to say about.  The header, if you've noticed is the only thing that stays reasonably consistent through the whole project.  So, there is that.

I did all of that stuff last night, so that today, I could sit down and start writing.  I usually look for some kind of in on the album, or something that I have a bit to say about.  This is generally the hardest part of the writing process to me.  Once I get some words flowing out of me, I can usually just go until the end, but getting the flow started takes some doing.  (Notice: I have used this as the spike to get the writing flowing, so I am good to go for the rest of this project.)

The Hold Steady is the center of my world at this point.  It is dependent on the album, of course, because the more I enjoy the album, the more locked into it I get.  I try to listen to the album at least three times if I like it a ton, two times if I am not completely into it.  This number is entirely variable.

The album that I am listening to is actually pretty incredible on the second listen.  Last night, I was just trying to get locked into the album, and get a sense of the space and time of the album.  I usually will attempt to put the recording into a place, so with The Hold Steady, I am seeing a small empty bar, a place of dark wood, that is the place that everyone goes before the house party later that night.

Then, I attempt to look at the music itself.  It's interesting to me that The Hold Steady keeps an interesting tension between the subjects of the songs and the sound.  What I mean is that the songs are obviously about drugs, alcohol, sex and youth, but the world weary voice and the sound of the music is obviously designed to make you think that it is a retrospective look at the life lived.

The music is usually the next thing, because it (in a good album) enhances these themes or (in a bad album) detracts from them.  The Hold Steady's lead vocalist has an incredible talent for injecting every syllable with feeling and the tension that I mentioned before.  The hints of keyboard and the general talent on display is pretty amazing.  The songwriting is good, and the touches of jazz, blues, folk and other major styles really enhances the sound of the album.

About here is where I start thinking about good ways to wrap up the project.  I'm looking for that thing to go out on, that I am happy to leave the conversation at.  I usually have written myself into a corner praising the album at this point, so I have to think really hard about the things that I don't like.  For instance, while I understand that Chillout Tent needs the different voices to highlight the different perspectives, it was somewhat shocking and unfortunate, because the lead singers voice is so distinctive that it is difficult to listen to other voices when you could hear his.

Anyway, this album is incredibly good, well done, and really fun to listen to.  It actually reminds me of Bruce Springsteen a ton, which is a good thing.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and hope you enjoyed this peek behind the album project.  I'm going to get to work on the next one.

"The parrot wipes it's beak, even though it is already clean."

Matt

PS. Comments are good! Give Phil Five! Want to write an album project?  Want to read one about your favorite album?

PPS. Thank God, Best of March is over.  HIPSTERS!

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Published in 2007

Wikipedia

AVClub - Best of 2007 #1 

Timely!

Yeah, I am writing this in the week after Arcade Fire won Best Album at the Grammy's, thus lending it a tiny sliver of legitimacy.  Also, the fact that the Beibs got shut out is apparently big news in the more annoying misspelled rants segments of the population, so there is that.  Threatening a young jazz artist for beating your teen heartthrob: smart!  (Also, this is much the same population that got so upset at the Taylor Swift thing, but now, since it is the white kid who got cheated out of best new artist, it's fine for them to go after the black girl.  Awesome.)  I think Mr. Bieber handled himself with poise and grace, and his fans are going through that awkward period before they grow shame.  Also, I didn't watch any of this shit, and I don't give a shit about it. So there is that.

Anyway, you know what is a great band?  Arcade Fire.  You know how I know?  Because once you put on one of their records, you'll find it hard to turn it off.  It has a sound all of it's own, and it just works. The songs are unique, interesting, and well done.

I actually hadn't listened to Neon Bible that much before this week, because I am pretty sure Funeral is one of my favorite albums of all time, which isn't saying much, since everyone ever loves that album.  You could prove that people don't, and I won't believe you, to paraphrase Ford Prefect.

This album is a perfect continuation of that legacy.  It's exactly what I enjoyed about Funeral, put back into another group of songs, which are spectacularly beautiful and incredibly well made.  The sounds are clear, the vocals are amazing, and it's got an interesting lyrical grasp.

The theme of the album is some sort of manipulative religious groups theme, but it isn't so overt that you can't just listen to the music, and isn't incredibly wrong.  The album, though, should be judged on the musical merits, of which there are many.

Remember last week, when I complained that TVOTR was flat?  There is no problem with that here.  The wash of sound is given a place and it is highly defined.  Your ear can seek out individual lines inside the whole with no problem, and you can even hear the major movements without any real direction.  The music is deep and the individual parts are awesome.

This is a band that I would love to just see recording, because I have a feeling that it is an incredible process.  I imagine beautiful music coming from a gothic monstrosity, new from old and this is going off the rails, I need to stop this.

It's actually somewhat hard to talk about this album because it is too good.  I know I say that a lot, but you people keep suggesting awesome albums that I don't have a lot to say about, because they are too good to talk shit about.  So I have to look for some way in, and that always seems like a contrivance and a dumb thing to do.

Neon Bible is, as with all Arcade Fire albums, not optional.  Get them, listen to them, enjoy them.  Be happy you did.  Thank me.  Name your firstborns for me. 

"God said to Abraham, give me a son."

Matt

Want to see some words about whatever you like?  Suggest something in the comments or on facebook or email me or whatever.  Also, the more comments we get, the more you will deprive me of beer money, thus depriving me of more beer gut, thus making me lose more money!  Give Phil Five!

PS. My album of 2007 is In Rainbows, by Radiohead, because.

Radiohead - OK Computer

Radiohead - OK Computer

Published in 1997

Wikipedia

OK Computer marks the moment in Radiohead's career where they stepped off the path and found a goldmine. The album begins in a wholly different way than either of their previous albums.  We are treated to a cello and bells, playing a melody that would sound completely out of place on either of the previous records.  This is the first indication that we are now in a new space.

Airbag, the albums first track, is one of the greatest songs to lead off an album ever.  It is a wide open, strikingly beautiful track, that is inviting and interesting.  The themes of the album are hit on, but the song is just well made and well performed.  No longer are we relying on pure guitar and bass to convey the music, there are synths, strings, drum machines and much more.  The guitar is present, and the bass is pounding, but they are awash in extra touches around the main parts.

Lyrically, Airbag is a sing along song about a car crash, the effects of modernity and the interaction of man and technology.  This is the theme of the album.  In a world where nothing is separated from technology, what happens is recorded, seen, processed and filtered through this technology.  Music is a powerful thing in this world, because it seems to be the one place where technology cannot touch, but as Radiohead shows, it has already permeated the gap, and is now in charge.

Paranoid Android is another classic song.  The bass line is beautiful, the acoustic touch brings an interesting sound on top of it, and to also have an electric guitar come in just adds to the depth of the song.  The music is well performed, the sounds are beautiful, and Thom Yorke screams and shouts with the best of them.  The song progresses from one point in musical space to another, first starting as a bass and acoustic song, developing into a rock anthem, slowing down into a ballad, and returning to the anthem.  These tonal changes make the song develop into much greater than the sum of its parts.

In general, Thom Yorke alternates between a breathy whisper and singing right at the edge of his vocal range, threatening to  either go into falsetto, or playing just on that side of the vocals.  This means that his voice is dynamically attempting to move up and over a certain point, and the failure of the voice to do so intrigues us and brings us further into the song.  The exploitation of this natural feature of the human voice is one of the most brilliant things that Yorke can do.

Subterranean Homesick Alien is a song about longing for a greater experience.  The desire to see something from a different perspective and from a different place is a common one in Radiohead's music.  The voyeuristic elements are also interesting to look at.  Both the aliens and the singer are trying to present the people back home with a different perspective, the aliens in the form of home movies and the singer in the form of words.  Both of these experiences highlight the superficial elements of relating experience to another.  The movies, by definition are only an image of the experience at that time, which divorces them from the time and place that they are being viewed, and can only be experienced fully through the memory of creating them, while the narrative is flawed in that in the end, it must sound crazy to the other people around.  Once again, disconnection from human beings reigns.

Exit Music (For a Film) is another song about attempting to find connection and failing.  The singer is attempting to escape with someone else, and the song is presented as a narrative between this character and the singer.  The quietly whispered quality of the vocals and the layers of music present a strangely conspiratorial sound, that makes the song sound like it is being sung to you alone.  Even as the song expands, it remains a shared experience between you and the singer, a quiet rebellion, huddled in the woods around a fire, having escaped from an oppressive thing.  

There are two parts to Exit Music (For a Film) of equal importance.  First is the Wake and Escape part.  This establishes the narrative quality.  The song is communicated directly to us, the listener, and we are treated as the child in the relationship.  The imagery that is called to mind is of a hushed night time escape, running away from an oppressive force, that has held on too long.  The escape is cathartic and  triumphant.

The second part begins just after the line "Sing us a Song, a Song to keep us warm, there is such a chill, such a chill." At this moment, the heavily distorted baseline comes in.  The song that is sung is one of rebellion toward the force that once held us.  It is a revolutionary anthem, sung between conspirators against an oppressive figure that doesn't present itself to them.  However, this triumphant quality is stamped out by the end of the song, with the repeated refrain "We hope that you choke, that you choke, that you choke" sung in a quiet, high voice, like a child hiding in the woods.  The epic rebellion is only between this child and the original singer, and the hope is one of futility and sadness.  Sitting outside, escaped from the house, not yet to anywhere that could take you in, the end sounds like the oppressive darkness chokes off the lone voice in the cold world.

(Did that just get really dark?  I think it was a little dark.  My fault.)

Let Down is a lovely song, mixing the classic Radiohead sound with a lovely wash of noise effect.  The background has a constant sound of cymbals, which allows the guitar and vocals to ring out over the background, and even the bass comes through clearly.  There are several small repeated samples that make an impact, and the added noise is not distracting, but adds to the wash in a way that makes it interesting.  The main through line, which sounds like marimba to me, but might just be an electric piano, gives a great sound to the whole thing.

Perhaps the most popular song off of OK Computer, Karma Police was ubiquitous on alternative radio for a year or so.  It's a haunting song of great sing along lyrics.  The music once again takes advantage of the layers available, allowing a wailing vocal track in the background.  The piano based chorus segment drops well, and brings the listener in closer to the band.  The space created by the re-entry of the drums allows the effect to occur over and over again.

The bridge, with it's cries of "for a minute there, I lost myself" is well done, sounds like the other parts, and allows a strange guitar non-solo.  The guitar solo sounds more like a repeated alarm sound, not a solo, but it comes through at the moment when you expect the solo to occur.  It is then dwarfed at the end of the song by the lead in to Fitter Happier.

If I were to point to something that bothers me from this album, it would be Fitter Happier.  I think I understand why they used it, but now, over ten years later, the idea of a MC Hawking solo in the middle of this album seems absurd.  However, the background music is pretty incredible, and it allows this not to stick out like a sore thumb.  It is less distracting and thematically fits, I just wish that it wasn't so obvious.  Having human words come out of a robots mouth is a little too easy for me.

Electioneering  (I believe that the title comes from a Kurosawa film called Ikiru, which might be my favorite film of all time.) is a great rock song.  It's simply amazing, driving rock.  It is the closest thing to a normal song structure on this album, but it is just a driving monster song.  The music is well done, the guitar is awesome, and the drums just kick.  It is perhaps the easiest song to just listen to without context, but in context, it gives it a certain power that it is so simple.  The song structure is simple, but the song is not.  The lyrics are powerfully crafted, and the music is too.

Climbing Up the Walls is a pretty great song.  I think the beginning is more powerful than the end, and that it loses it's way somewhere halfway, but I think that it is a pretty fair representation of the insanity and desire that consumes people.  It's a fantastically well done beginning though, and totally fits inside the album, because the outro of buzzes and noises brings us into the prettiest song on the album

No Surprises is a perfect song.  The song is light and poppy sounding, with incredibly dark and strange lyrics. It has a lullaby quality to it, and a bit of a sing songy vibe to it.  The music is just perfectly beautiful and completely detoothed, which allows the lyrics to be biting and vicious.  If it is a lullaby, it is the lullaby that is sung to budding anarchists and criminals, a song of theft and destruction, a prayer to the god of the thieves.  It's also wonderful.

Lucky has a dreamlike quality.  The slow tempo allows the vocals to languish in the time, making the music that much sweeter.  The chorus kicks in with one of the most moving and singable lines from the album, with the note on "pull" almost being drawn out of you, involuntarily.  The song is performed with a tightness and clarity that many other artists lack.  It's a beautiful moment of dreamy clarity.

The Tourist is even slower in tempo than Lucky, and is almost so slow that it forces you to anticipate the beat.  The chorus of the song directly addresses this with "Hey man, slow down, slow down, slow down."  The main vocal sections are sung in harmony between two voices, allowing the snaking between these voices to create tension, and the music to interact with the voices.  It's a beautifully done piece of music.

So, why is OK Computer one of the most important albums of the last twenty years?  I think it is because it looks both forward and back.  It has a structure that is similar to the Dark Side of the Moon, which was a meditation on madness, while this is a meditation on Technology and Humanity.  I think that if it were not for this album, the musical landscape would have lost the diverse epic structure, and I think that we would be worse off for it.

I also think that it is important to remember how different this was than The Bends and Planet Telex.  "We have removed the traditional song structure, and are no longer aping the people who inspired us."  The imagery of stepping off the path is a good one.  The first two albums, while incredibly respectable pieces of work, were in line with what other bands would have done.  For that matter, nearly every album is similar to every other album that artist has done.  When we make something successful, the "that but more" principle comes into effect.  This is why some people get locked into structures, and instead of using the structure to build something new, they just build the same house over and over again.

Radiohead, by stepping this way, opened up an entirely new path for them to go.  Few bands have tried to go in such a different direction, and even fewer have succeeded, but this is a stellar effort.  To adopt this kind of change shows maturity in a musician, and it allows them to move to even newer places.  OK Computer was the first step, but the next one would be even further.

"That's a lot of scalps,"
Matt

PS. Yeah, another one bites the dust!  This will be posted on Wednesday, so, whenever you check TAP, make sure to check other times too.  Not only does it bump my view count and thus my ego, it also means that you get more TAP!

PPS. GP5!

PPPS.  Stay tuned for more of the Catalog Project!  Up next, Kid A and Amnesiac and blowing your mind.

TV On The Radio - Dear Science

TV On The Radio - Dear Science

Published in 2008

Wikipedia 

AVClub - Best of 2008 #1 

First off, "Hey Jerk, where is 2009?"

The Best of 2009 #1 album was Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which I wrote about already.  I could use this opportunity to do an actual album project about it, but that would be 1. too easy, and 2. I'm not going to.  Shut up, you.

I actually am somewhat excited to see if out there in my fans there is someone who can explain why they like this album to me.  I have some interesting (for me) ideas to share (at you) and I'd love to hear some others about this.

TV On The Radio is one of the bands that I have never really listened to, but I know a bunch about because of the AVClub.  I use the AVClub to pass time at work, and to get my pop culture fix, so the things that they like, I know lots about, but the things that they are ambivalent towards, I am a bit hazier on.  TV On The Radio is strictly in the former category.

It's somewhat hard for me to see why this was picked as the album of the year.  Well, that's not strictly true.  I totally understand that they love these guys over there, and with their way of picking winners, it is more likely to be something that they love than someone completely insane (except Kanye).  So, I don't know if they collectively agreed that this was the best, or if they collectively enjoyed it, and it squeaked by.

This album is perfectly pleasant to listen to.  It's actually a delight in how enjoyable it is, and how easy it is to get into.  I've been listening to it for about an hour and a half now, and I am not tired of their sound.  It's well made, well produced, and it just is solid in every place that it should be.

The vocals are incredible, the band is great, the songs are well written, and it's just fun to listen to.  So why don't I like it more?

First off, I think that it is missing that hook that I need to get into it.  Remember when Gnarles Barkley came out with Crazy, and everyone knew that song was amazing?  I just do not hear that kind of song in this album.  I can't put my finger on why that is, because they obviously are killing it in every other department, but there is just no song that I am unable to turn off.

Secondly, it's a little too easy for me to just drop in and drop out of listening.  Over the course of this hour and a half, I have consciously found myself listening to it about 20 times, which is pretty damn low.  I'm talking about those moments where you recognize that your focus is entirely on the music playing and not on anything else.  Now, I am writing a blog while I am listening, which decreases my focus on the pure music, but usually, I hover somewhere near 45-60 for a good album and I have trouble writing when it is a great album.

Thirdly, it sounds a little ... flat?  I guess.  It sounds like there isn't a huge variation in the sound of the album, and without that depth, it is hard for me to get totally into it.  I hear all of the individual parts somewhat washing together, which is unfortunate, because whenever I separate the parts out, it sounds amazing, but it takes a great deal of focus to separate them.  The songs are amazing, but I can't hear the range of it, because it seems that the whole of the album is squished together behind the vocals.

Now, to be  clear, I think you should hear this album, because I think it is very good.  I just think it might not be my cup of tea.  Also, I think there might be the Dreamtheater effect here, where not knowing where the band comes from and what kinds of songs they are striving for is getting in the way of my enjoyment.  I just don't think this is anything other than an optional album.

Anyway, if there is anyone out there who would like to tell me why I am wrong, you can help Phil earn 5 bucks of my hard earned Korean Won, and if you have any album suggestions, you can throw them down in the comments.

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."

Matt

PS. Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! Give Phil Five! USA! USA! USA! USA! LET'S GO TEAM! LET'S GO TEAM!

The White Stripes - Elephant

The White Stripes - Elephant

Published in 2003

Wikipedia

I have some spectacular friends.  One of the few friends that I got out of high school, that wretched hive of scum and villainy, is a man named Brian.  If you have looked through the archives, you will see him threatening hungerstrikes for me not having done The Beatles yet, you will see him with some incredibly well written comments, and you will generally see him everywhere.  So, I present to you, the first guest album project, by Brian G.  Bow down before him, ye mighty, and despair.

Jack White is an unassuming man whose presence does not impose upon itself. It is not until the pick hits the steel that you feel the room flex and can feel the music in your chest in the reverse fashion of how the mute can talk with a microphone pressed to their throats. Meg White follows suit in the duo, being the milk to Jacks thrashing cheerios. No one enjoying cereal ever mentions the milk unless it is past its prime, and this milk may have a bit of a twang to it, but fuck it, it has 2 weeks left before it makes you pee out your backside. When you think White Stripes, I immediately think of a few things. The first is the unfortunate fact that they broke up in February; if that will stick or not we will see, but I don’t see them getting back together. Jack carries on with the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather - both of which rock in their own right.

Seven nation army comes on with the bass line that could have been written by a 6th grader. This song is always found in a lot of authors 'top 50 rock songs of all time' list; and I agree with that. If nothing else, this song got the Stripes a ton of play and expanded their base more than any other single. I was glad to hear the band known for their garage rock sound getting play on the radio - I sensed this as a small step in the improvement of a steadily declining radio scene. 

Black math is exactly how it sounds. If the kings of yesterday would have relied on composite boxes of wood topped with metal strings rather than the black magic of royal lore - this is the jam you would flex to slay the fucking dragon. This is another simple hard hitting song that I am sure was first played in a basement or garage somewhere.

Just when you are verging on the side of face melting status, they slow it down without being dreary. 'I just don’t know what to do with myself', 'in the cold cold night', 'I want to be the boy to warm your mothers heart' and 'You’ve got her in your pocket' show a departure from the beginning of the album by telling a bit more of a story and also giving Meg a chance to step up to the mic. It works to keep this album very sessionable in that you can listen to it start to finish over and over and not grow tired of it. With that being said, you wouldn’t find any of those 4 songs on my Stripes mix tape.

Please note that this may look like a separate paragraph, but that is only because I couldn’t find a button on my computer to make this block of text a completely different level of being. This artifact of text is not on the same three dimensions as the rest of this piece. This is where the album gets fucking gritty; it drinks tiger blood and pisses grungy bluesy excellence. If you were to play 'Ball and Biscuit' through a 50s tube amp you are hearing the air vibrate in the method in which God intended and that only Jack White could be the epi-center of. As good as the album cut is, I cannot urge you more to find a video of the live performance. The improvise riffs and the dirty grit of it come through in a way that the polished studio cut couldn’t show. Seven Nation Army is very similar in this regard - I urge you to find a set where they mashed together 'Death Letter' with 'Seven Nation Army' on youtube. The transition between the two is one of those moments where you see what a live show should be.

Winding down the album, we have some solid songs which are led by the popular single 'Hardest Button to Button'. Multiple singles off Elephant made for some serious air time on the better rock stations. IF you didn’t know the Stripes before Elephant, you knew them now. The only song that I can’t explain on this entire album is the final track. The skit with Holly Golightly makes no sense but it shows the range that the Stripes Have. Although this is never the end of the Stripes for me - whenever the hiss comes on that indicated the end of the record it always leads to one of two foregone conclusions - dropping that fat needle back on 'Ball and Biscuit' or cuing up White Blood Cells or Icky Thump.

"Right now you could care less about me, but soon enough you will care by the time I'm done"

Fucking sick, am I right?  I have the coolest friends.

As for my opinions on things, I am pretty sure that Brian completely nailed this album.  It's driving, well crafted, and just a beautiful album.  It's one of those albums that every person needs to experience, because it just is that cool.  The drums are pounding, and the guitar is solid as fuck.

Of course, as they have just broken up, we must expect that this is going to be one of those albums that just lives on as a ghost.  One of those band that everyone will say they saw in their prime, and one of those bands that those of us who didn't will wish we had.  They play some spectacular rock, and they are just great.

It's personal story time.  My dad was in a punk band in Detroit, Michigan (the setting for Robocop) in the late 70's.  They were called the Denizens, and I have to say, they actually rock.  If they had come out twenty years later, they would have been hailed as a great classic punk act, but because they were ahead of classic punk, they never quite got that far.  They were seriously good, and I remember singing their songs as a kid.

In the early 2000's my dad's band got back together.  In Detroit.  They were going to play one show, and so we took a vacation up to the brown/tannest place on Earth, and went to a place called the Bohemian house.  To say that this concert took place in a bad part of town was an understatement, and since it is in Detroit, that understatement is an understatement.  The house was really cool though, with a bunch of really nice people.

My dad was the closing band.  A group called the Fondas came out and rocked out a bit, played some quality music. The whole event was for this guy Jim (I think)'s birthday, and so he got dressed up in his rock star best.  He had on khakis and a pink button up shirt, no tie.  He got warmed up with the band a tiny bit, and then they started playing.

They killed.  It was a room full of the most incredibly diverse group of people I have ever seen,  My dad's generation on down to my sister, who is three years younger than me, and the place was fucking into it in a way that I have rarely seen at a concert.  The whole place was into the concert, they were doing some really cool stuff, and a huge group of Detroit musicians were in the room.

I couldn't take my eyes off this one person, who was standing next to a central pillar in the room with a large, dreaded black guy.  I knew that I knew her from somewhere, but I couldn't remember where, until I really thought about it, and I had seen her on TV.

Meg White was at my dad's concert.  That is some fucking insane shit that I couldn't make up.  Seriously.  It was just one of those things that I still to this day, kick myself for not going up to her and just saying something small, about how she was influential and how cool it was for her to be at my dad's concert.  Writing it out now, I'm glad that I just treated her like a person, and didn't bother her.  I really enjoyed the concert, I enjoyed the hell out of my dad going up and blowing people away, and I thought that he was a pretty cool dad for doing it.

So, that was my brush with an incredibly famous, interesting, and seemingly very nice person.  If I was wrong, and she wasn't there, I feel like an idiot, but I'm not wrong.

Anyway, thanks to Brian, I hope that you will write more projects, and whoever out there has an album that they want to knock out of the park like Brian did, I will always provide space for you to vent your feelings, heart and soul.

"Danger in Disneyland"
Matt

PS.  Five Phil Give!

PPS.  Want to read a little more about my dad's band?  Go here.

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Published in 2010

Wikipedia

AVClub - Best of 2010 #1

So guess what, this is going to be the first one that I write on a computer in a while, so that means it will have longer sentences, with nice subclauses, and a bit more structure.  Writing on my iPod is good for a lot of things (mostly getting album projects done while in transit from one place to another) but it is not good for style.  I notice myself conserving words, stopping myself from ranting and raving, and generally making this a less interesting read.  However, you don't care about that, you're wondering why I have two links in my little intro up there (If you weren't, good for you, you care more about what I wrote than what I am doing.)

I have an obsession.  I am addicted to the AVClub, the sister publication of the Onion, and I have been for several years now.  As you may have noticed (music blog, general nerdy asides, limitless tolerance for pop culture knowledge, Star Wars obsession, etc.) I am a bit of a nerd.  I like to soak subjects in, and when I find a good place to do so, I will read their archives, their sidebars, and even discussions about things that I have never watched or cared about to this point.  So, I use the AVClub as one of my main soaks.  (By the way, Wikipedia is the other, but it's a little dry.  Encyclopedia Dramatica, however. . .)

The best way to get an honest opinion about something, in my opinion, is to ask them straight up about what they care about, and then ask them to break that thing down into better, worse, and terrible.  For instance, I would tell you that when starting to read Star Wars books, you could not go wrong with the X-wing Series, mainly because Wedge Antilles is a great character, Rogue Squadron is one of the most dynamic presences in the book, and your ability to be engaged with the world is much greater.  I would tell you not to immediately start out with the Young Jedi series, however, I would tell you that to understand the overarching plot for the last 15? years in the books, you would have to read through it at some point.  I would tell you to ignore the Han Solo Trilogy until you were fully locked in, and so on and so forth.  (I had to stop myself there, let's just leave it at that. Point made, right?)

When I get obsessive about something I want to consume it voraciously.  I've read nearly all of the Boxcar Children novels, because I read the first one, enjoyed it, and every day for a summer, in about an hour, I'd kill one of them.  I've more recently (in college) become obsessive about sports, or at least knowledgeable enough about them to enjoy them.  I now cruise ESPN.com everyday, looking for interesting stories. So, when I got a little obsessive about Pop Culture, the AVClub seemed the perfect fit.

In middle school, and to this day, the Onion is a source of laughs.  It's one of the most incredibly smart and silly pieces of humor in print today.  I haven't seen Sportsdome yet, but I'm pretty sure I am the target audience.  So, the first time I clicked over to their sister site, the AVClub, I felt like I was finding a place where my sense of Pop Culture was respected.

Sarcasm, hipsterism, Wire-obsession, and more, it was obviously a place that reflected my sense of the ridiculous and (I will say it) beauty of Pop Culture.  I think over the last four or five years, I have read nearly all of their running columns, and I have completely loved 95% of it.  Some stuff I agree with, some I don't, but it is all written with people like me in mind.

So, out of respect to the AVClub, and the den of hipster douchebags that it is, I've decided to make March "Best of the AVClub."  I'll be writing about the best of 2006-2010.  Luckily, I've already covered one, in my most abstract of essays, but Phoenix needed to be written about that way, then.  So, here we go, with the Best Album of 2010 - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

There is an amazingly schizophrenic aura to a man like Kanye West.  I am completely sure that this is where his divisive reaction comes from, and I couldn't write this essay without actually dealing with it.  So, let's do what everyone has to do when Kanye West is being discussed in a public forum.

1. What he said about George Bush: My personal opinion is that Kanye went off the cards because he believed what he was saying.  The fact that it hurt Bush so much, means that there was something there that was true.  I don't think his intention was to call the President racist, but the way it came out, it obviously had that connotation.  However, if Kanye had said something like "George Bush doesn't care about poor people, and this is the way we can help those people, so please call this number," it may have softened the blow.  However, I like Kanye, and I am not a huge Bush fan, so I might be biased.

2. Taylor Swift:  Rude: Yes.  Bad for his image: Yes. Yelled at a pretty, tiny, white girl: For sure.  Wrong: ??? Look, I'm amazed that I haven't been forced to listen to some "new country", because my friends seem to be the vindictive types who want me to do "Now 6" (Jake :glares:), but I don't like Taylor Swift.  I think her songs are pretty, but pedestrian, and really, incredibly, mundane.  Beyonce is Beyonce.  Not much more creative, in my opinion, but has a ton more personality, and at least a hint of funk in her soul.  I want her to succeed because she seems so genuinely awesome.  Also, if her and Jay want to hang out, I'm available constantly.

3. His music.

Which is the problem.  One and Two take so much away from number Three, that it makes it hard to feel like you're on his side.  I'm supposed to feel like, fuck Kanye, he's mean to people and rude, and an asshole to authority figures, and blah blah blah.

Well, fuck that.  I'll say it now, hyperbole and all, but Kanye West is perhaps the greatest album maker of the 00's.  He's incredibly complex, spectacularly equipped to make great music, and if you don't think so, you pay too much attention to the news, and not enough to the music.

That's right, "Mr. Alternative Radio is the only radio I will listen to" is saying that Kanye West, for better or worse, is one of the greatest artists of our time.  His contentious personality would overshadow this, but that would be if his personality came anywhere near as bad as his albums are good.  And let's be clear, Kanye's albums are spectacular.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the last in a string of incredible fucking albums.  808's and Heartbreak is one of the most haunting and interesting albums I have ever heard, and is the only justified use of Autotune outside of Mr. and Mrs. Autotune themselves (T-Pain and Akon[T-Pain gets to be Mr. because did a song with Lonely Island and was on Aqua Teen Hunger Force).  Graduation - "Stronger", "Can't Tell Me Nothing", "Champion", do I have to list the whole album?  Late Registration is one of the best sophmore albums ever made, and it came out one year after his first. And if you don't like College Dropout, you need to stop eating lead paint, but some headphones on, and listen to that shit.

Look, I'm trying to calm down on this, but seriously, I could write an entire month on Kanye alone.  I love his albums, because they are made as albums, and even distracting ass side skits don't take it away.

One thing I've discussed with friends, and I think I read this on the AVClub, is the idea of a Pop Culture pass.  For instance, no matter what Christopher Walken does, I will always love him, because he is an amazing actor.  He earned his pass when he appeared in the watch scene in Pulp Fiction, if not in Deer Hunter.  Same with Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Jackson, Ian McShane, and the list goes on.

So, I have to do this.  Kanye, barring any unforeseen circumstances, where you do something more incredibly dumb than the brilliance you show in music, I hereby bestow upon you a Pop Culture Pass.  I don't give a shit who you tell off, I want you to charge the stage if you want to, I don't care what you say, if you keep putting out albums, I'll keep listening to them and buying them.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is in the running for the best album Kanye has ever done.  However, with his five albums, you have to anticipate that every one of his albums is in the running.  Personally, 808's and Heartbreak is probably my favorite, but that depends on mood, of course.

Listening to this album is to hear . . . brilliance?  Perfection? Insanity?  Who makes an album in these days, that has a theme, a consistent sound, and is intended as a whole?  Why is Kanye West so much better than everyone else?

The sound of the album, to me, is an orchestral beat pumped through a classic game boy speaker, with lush vocals and samples on top of the spectacular backgrounds.  The beats are well done, the whole thing sounds lush and full.  The autotune of 808's is used sparingly, if at all.  The difference between the albums is pretty astounding, to hear that two years later, this is his new sound.

Maybe that is part of it, that it always sounds new.  No one else sounds like Kanye.  The Neptunes (another of my favorite producers, and I love N*E*R*D) are sometimes as good as Kanye, but I find their brilliance to be less consistently through the roof.  There is no missed opportunity, no wasted time.

The guests are tight, doing their best to slam out incredible performances.  If you haven't heard Monster yet, that would be the track that I would say is the best of the album, however, I can tell you that if you put it on shuffle, one would be hard pressed to catch a bad song, since I haven't heard one on here.  Now, some are less than others, but when you're on the 30th floor of a building, and everyone else is down at the third or fourth, the 29th floor is pretty high too.

I'm listening to Runaway right now, and while the intro is slow, the song is actually doing something that few pop songs do.  It's building.  It's building to a new level, and to a new verse, and to a climax.  He's using sparseness to create a full and rewarding upward slope.  The verses are nice, and the chorus is well done, but the developing beat is fucking spectacular.  Even when something drops out, it is in the service of something bigger coming back on.

I think one thing that might be hard for some people is the language and subjects he chooses to talk about, so let's talk about that for a second.  Yes, it's all about money, sex and power, but of course, so is everything else.  In some ways, the bluntness of it is refreshing, and the words that are used are poetic in a way that you almost need to divorce from the voice to appreciate.  The lyrics are fast and unrelenting, but, and this must be said, clear and distinguishable.  As much as I love Necro, I can't hear what the fuck he is saying a great deal of the time.  This is not a problem with Kanye.

Look, I'm going to tell you a secret.  If you divorce yourself from reading about pop culture, then the art is just art, and you can listen to it unbiased.  However, if you read the pop culture, and understand that it is the most meaningless of news and enjoy it for it's novelty, you can appreciate the art just as much.  The moment you take it seriously, though, you are lost.  If Kanye has proven anything, it's that he needs to be on the mic, because what he creates on a mic and in a studio is frankly astonishing, and whatever he does after that, I don't need to care about.

This album is a hedonistic, destructive, apocalyptic, maniacal, self-centered, insane, schizophrenic, mess.  If you don't hear it once, you've missed out.  It is firmly Not Optional.  With this, a masterstroke, I give one Kanye West, his lifetime pass.

Next week, on the Album Project - The Best of the AVClub: TV on the Radio's - Dear Science, 2008's best album.

"I shall unleash a firestorm of humility the likes of which the universe has never seen."
Matt

PS.  I figure I should do the Album that I listened to most of the year and the one that I think was probably my favorite of the year, what with this being number 1 March and all.  So, my number one is, of course, Plastic Beach, by Gorillaz.  Too good to ignore, I listened to it on repeat for days.  Some Kind of Nature is one of my favorite songs ever.

PPS.  The AVClub just did an article on one of my (obviously) favorite subjects, how long does it take to get an album.  It's written articulately and well, and is much like my own opinion on it.  Also, it's better than anything I'll write this year, so thanks to the AVClub for making my writing pale in comparison!