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Category Archives: Music
CD Review: Fantasy of the Lot (LF)
Band: Lovely Feathers
Label: Equator Records
Release: 2009
Comments: This, the third studio album from the Montreal indie rockers certainly was a crucial record, in my opinion. The group won my attention with their spectacular 2006 release Hind Hind Legs. Hind Hind Legs was heavy on the synths and almost what I would describe as “glam-folk.” Every song had a great quality, whether it was “Pope John Paul” (funny, heavy), or “Rod Stewart” (funny, pop). Fantasy of the Lot starts off with “Lowiza,” a Hind Hind Legs-ish song filled with irresistible vocals and great drums. “Long Walks” sounds like dark faux postpunk at first. It’s sort of hard to classify the Lovely Feathers as anything “officially” because they combine so many different sounds. The middle of “Long Walks” changes to something more powerpop based before going back to what it originally was. Returning to the light-hearted jangle folk that I loved so much on past records is “Fad.” Think Paul Simon meets Jens Lekman meets traditional calypso. “Gifted Donalds” features a lullaby-esque piano sequences, yet manages to be persistently upbeat. “Finders Fee” has the bass-line, for starters, to be a significant track. It follows through on all notes to be exactly that. The title track doesn’t exactly suck…it just doesn’t stand out. It never picks up. “Family That Doesn’t Know the Game” is pure Lovely Feathers. “Ossified Games” has a notable “woo-ooo-aaahhh-ooo.” I love those. And a pres Asian little guitar riff. “Argotaker” has a bit of a Canadian folk thing going on. “Loading Dock” is a bit meh. The last track “Vaulted Precedents” is psychedelically slow but amusing.
Final Comment: Overall, I think the Lovely Feathers toned things down a little bit. The music seems more serious than it has in the past. Slower. More experimental than ever. The sad part is there aren’t any tracks that stick out besides “Lowiza.” By the way this thing came out in America today.
Grade: 8.8 out of 10
Rock and Roll Is Dead…
You can eschew the title, I simply employed that as an attention grabber. Is rock dead? Well, that’s for you to decide, because it means something different to everyone. I suppose. Anyway, the point of this brief rant is actually about the rise and fall of good, mainstream music. Now, I know there was plenty of fantastic music before the dawn of Rock and Roll, but you have to start somewhere and I’m starting with Rock and Roll in the 1950s. It was new, rebellious and danceable. Hell, it even broke the color barrier. Whether it was Chuck, Dick, or Elvis that kicked off the whole show in a big Fucking way is another story. As we move into the 1960s, the bubblegum remains, but it’s still passionate. The Brits invade and take over the charts, Americans fight back. The music of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and dozens of others becomes the soundtrack to a youthful Revolution protesting Western Civilization… and just having a gooddd time, man. By the 1970s, things start to become too commercialized. Right around 1973. Then tons of shit is splattered at us! We have dealt with shit before (see Patti Page), but not to this extreme. This begins, what Pete Townsend once declared “the fall of the Roman Empire.” And ever since then mainstream pop music has been more or less dominated by shitty, overly mersh music. The 90s did have various stellar mainstream bands (Smashing Pumpkins, RATM, STP, etc.) riding the wave Nirvana reluctantly christened. But, it appears to me that we will never again see the days of music with soul, integrity, and passion in domination as we did in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. But, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Most of the great music for you is unmainstream, if there ever were such a label. There have always been underground movements and especially uprisings against the corporate ogre and status quo which make Rock and Roll fun and exhilarating like it supposedly was in the early days. Right now could be the best time for music; in fact most of the best music I listen to is from the past few years and yet 90% (probably more) of people haven’t heard of it. I advise anyone and everyone to not get caught up in that phony, retro trend of thinking that most of the great music was from the 1960s and 1970s and today’s music just sucks ass. It is true that the “better” music was popular and dominated the radio back then and modern radio bares no resemblance to that, but don’t get sad, go out and discover new bands or dare I say start your own! Good Luck!
Chris
New Lovely Feathers Video!
I dig! I gotta find a way to get their new album.
Crazy Germans Invade Stage
…during “Bad Kids”:
Pitchfork = Dumb
P2K: The Decade In Music…Seriously? They are already naming their top 500 songs of the 2000s, but wait…it’s only August! There’s still months left of awesome music. They say that in early 2010 they will make additions, but can’t they just wait? And the randomness of songs 500-201 tell me this list is going to be disgusting.
Song of the Day!
Enjoy!
Chris
No Radiohead EP…Just “These Are…”
No four track EP. But the leak that was “These Are My Twisted Words” is available from Radiohead’s w.a.s.t.e merchandise shop as a free download.
Click here to download: http://www.waste.uk.com/Store/waste-radiohead-twisted+words.html
Included in the download is the song, artwork, a .pdf about the artwork, and a little document about the song.
A Brief History of My Musical Tastes
The Pop Era
1997: “I’ll Be Missing You,” and “Barbie Girl.”
1998: “Ghetto Supastar” and “Miss America.”
1999: “Mambo No 5” and “Blue”
2000: “The Real Slim Shady” and “Can I Get A”
2001: “In the End” and “Whenever Wherever”
2002: “Lose Yourself” and “Hey Baby”
The Hip-Hop Era/Videogame Era
2003-2006: In sixth grade I started to become pretty obsessed with hip-hop music and culture…but not overly obsessed. I wasn’t listening to anything too far from the mainstream. I sort of took a break from hip hop in late seventh grade and all of eighth grade. I returned to hip hop (more obscure shit this time) in summer and fall 2005 only to lose interest in it a few months later. During this time I became more and more engaged in “alternative” rock and underground/electro-rap thanks to soundtracks on MVP Baseball, Madden NFL, and NBA 2K.
The Modern Age
2006-Now: A lot of credit should be given to Chris as he showed me/got me into a lot of music that I was pretty unfamiliar with. 2007 is when I started to research bands online and explore the unexplored. It’s pretty incredible to think that my top two favorite bands of today (the Black Lips and No Age) were completely unknown to me before 2008. This is true for so so many of my other favorites. My rock tastes haven’t changed that much in as though I still don’t like a lot of the screamo and hardcore punk that I didn’t like before. I remember initially saying something like the Black Lips are something country truck drivers listen to. Obviously I don’t believe that anymore!
Glen
CD Review: Matador Singles ’08
Artist: Jay Reatard
Title: Matador Singles ’08
Year: 2008
1) See/Saw– 10- My personal favorite from Jay Reatard. It’s heavy, catchy, funny, surely one to get stuck in your head! To me, it exemplifies everything great about Jay’s music. He creeps me out, but he creeps me in again.
2) Screaming Hand– 9.8- A nice tale about the young Reatard singer and how he was different from everyone else and started his band. I love the “You are my hero” and “oh No No No.” Extremely catchy. I find that SH goes well following See/Saw.
3) Painted Shut– 9.5- Simply Classic Reatard
4) An Ugly Death– 10- I try to avoid giving out more than one 10 on any album, but this definitely deserves it! I think this was the first Jay song I came across and it is very powerful to say the least. I love the epic guitar opener; it just makes my ears anticipate what will happen next. Even after listening to the tune a ludicrous amount of times, I still can’t get over those powerful, yet simple chords. When I’m shuffling songs and AUD pops up on my ipod, I can never muster the will to turn it down. My actual favorite part of the song is the “for you, for me, for all to see” the vocals and guitar are just perfect. I also dig the ominous lyrics meshed with the upbeat music.
5) Always Wanting More– 8.8- One of my least favorites on this compilation, but nonetheless a hooky and genuinely decent tune.
6) You Mean Nothing to Me– 9.0- Typical Reatard. It gets stuck in my dome from time to time. In terms of lyrics, People being meaningless to Jay seems to be a recurring theme.
7) Fluorescent Grey– 9.2- This is a Deerhunter cover. Having never heard the original, I don’t know how it holds up, but I enjoy it very much. Giving the nature of Deerhunter’s music, this one is a bit softer and more experimental than previous Reatard singles/songs, lacking the familiar chainsaw guitars and pop hooks. It works though and foreshadows future Reatard talents.
8) Trapped Here– 9.6- Haha, I always find myself laughing at Jay’s disturbing, malicious lyrics! Violence, particularly one villain torturing his victim and remind them that they can’t escape and that they will soon parish is a frequent theme in the long haired punk’s lyrics. Memorable lyrics include “Relax, Relax, Relax, my little victim” and “You have nowhere to hide and you have everywhere to die.” Haha, the music itself, menacing, perfectly compliments the creepy lyrics.
9) Hiding Hole– 9.4- Another signature Reatard tune. Extremely, catchy, loud, fast guitars, fast, shouted vocals.
10) DOA– 9.8- One of the more popular singles and it’s certainly easy to see why. One of the heavier and yet absolutely endearing songs from this album. It includes perhaps the best example of the classic Reatard technique of slowing down the guitars and drums and simply shouting one line over and over again till its burned into your brain. In this case “It’s No Fun! It’s No Fun! It’s No Fun!” for whoever is dying on arrival haha.
11) No Time– 10- Once again, a rare 10! I love this song so much! Completely Unreatard. One (you’ll see) of the softest Jay songs I have ever heard. When I first heard this I was confused, I thought I may have put on a different artist. In this number, we see a gentle Jay (it sounds so strange) expressing his deepest emotions. “It seems I never have the time to make my mind feel fine,” Jay’s best lyrics and one of the best lines I ever heard period!
12) You Were Sleeping– 9.8- It gets even stranger! I can picture this and the former pissing some Reatard fans off. Especially some serious Blood Visions motherfuckers. Most of the previous statements I made about “No Time” apply here. It’s a sensitive song, I couldn’t even imagine Jay playing live when I saw him.
13) I’m Watching You– 9.7- A fabulous closer to a fabulous record! Softer than most Reatard songs, but heavier than the previous two. Unlike the other two though, it’s an upbeat single, but it’s similar to them in the sense that they all violate the typical Reatard format. I always smirk whenever I hear the line “You see, to me, you always were a cunt.” Haha. This is much better than the Watch Me Fall version in my opinion.
Grade: A:One of the best albums (though it’s technically just a compilation of singles) I’ve ever heard and certainly of the past few years. Probably the best from 2008. Jay and the gang bring their roaring flying Vs with them from Blood Visions and Singles ’06- ’07 and mash them up with more pop and delve into previously unknown or unforeseen territories! Foreshadowing their next effort, Watch Me Fall. There’s a notable progression that is perfectly displayed here.
Chris
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 