Rantings, reviews and lists from a person who structures half his life around obsessing over music.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Wu-Tang Clan - The W (2000)

3.5 ★/7.0 - 7.9

"I must tell you...the clan is a danger to the public...For many men...just to hear of the name fills them with hate and loathing"

"But why? They never hurt anyone!"

"I'm afraid they did...in the past..."


Indeed wise sensei, there once was a time when Wu-Tang striked terror in the souls of even the strongest soldiers. Circa 1999, however, the Wu namesake had lost quite a bit of it's credibility. Each individual member was being watered down and compromised; Method Man had completely sold his soul to Def Jam, long-awaited debuts by Inspectah Deck and U-God turned out to be bland affairs and equally anticipated follow ups to classics by GZA and Raekwon barely featured RZA beats at all, preferring other, less impressive, producers.

Perhaps it was the popularity and hype of Wu-Tang Forever that went to the group's head. If so, however, the quiet release of The W should have been a good sign to fans who might have been disillusioned with the band. Even the cover suggests a less bloated and egotistical focus than Forever, trading in the image of the immense group lined up across the map of a globe, plotting their takeover, for a simple Wu logo looming over a single, plain W. From the first four tracks, this expected "return to form" seems inevitable. Kung Fu samples and analogies feature prominently, the MCs sound recharged and the Rza's signature skeletal sound from 36 Chambers is updated and revamped in way that makes it hit just as hard as it used to. "Careful (Click Click)", in particular, is a murky masterpiece; a swirling collage of vintage sound effects and disturbing minimalism. You also won't hear any complaints here about the lack of ODB. Never mind whether you can stand his crack-addled insanity or not; if his sole contribution, "Conditioner", is any indication, the album benefited from his absence. Without his inconsistent humor, most of the album prefers suffocating atmosphere and cinematic grime, coming off as dark, edgy and fresh as the cover's pitch-black background.

Yet somewhere along the line, The W still becomes just as scattered as its predecessor. You can't help but cringe when Junior Reid's Jamaican-accented voice kicks in on "One Blood Under W". Remember when the band took pride in their "beef with commercial ass-niggas"? They hypocritically become their own worst enemies with a track like this and especially "Gravel Pit". What's most frustrating about the latter, is that the band seems to build it into some sort of earth-shattering centerpiece, giving it an intro where RZA himself hypes it up, and even having it speak for the entire album by releasing it as a single. But all that's delivered is a cartoonish, flinstone-beat, a string of tired shout-outs, and an apathetically sung, generic hook for the chorus.

"Are we safe from the clan, father?"

"Yes, young one...for now...the Clan may have the strongest techniques, but they still haven't sharpened their swords after so many years of usage...just beware!...the Wu-Tang still appears dangerous...they may return to full power soon..."
Read more...

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Mono - Hymn To The Immortal Wind (2009)

4.5 ★/9.0 - 9.9

It's easy to understand how Mono has never quite achieved the same level of respect as their post-rock forefathers. There's already been far too many post-rock bands in pretty much every corner of the world, pounding into our heads their philosophy of quiet-loud-quiet dynamics, pushing the limits of epic instrumentals, and for the longest time, yet another Mogwai copycat didn't seem necessary. Even up to last year's (mostly) acclaimed You Are There, it was easy to say that Mono were essentially doing for Post-Rock what Bush was doing for Grunge - introducing the world to a third tier of third-rate artists, in the interest of record companies trying to capitalize on popular musical trends.

But Hymn To The Immortal Wind is a different beast altogether. Perhaps it's the new instrumentation. You Are There didn't even try to step out of Explosions in The Sky's established formula and consequently suffered for it. When they did use instrumentation other than guitars on that album, it felt like they could have just as easily been using more guitars. But enlisting a full-fledged orchestra for their follow-up was the best move they could have possibly done. Songs are clearly written with the new instruments and their capabilities in mind, making the band's usual sound feel much more natural and vital, rather than contrived and redundant. For example, the stunning opener, "Ashes in The Snow" is based on gentle twinkling of glockenspiels, lending actual weight to the layers of guitar riffs, and the swells of strings that accompany the sweeping chords turn what could've easily been another boring exercise into something genuinely affecting. The second half of the same song, meanwhile, sounds like a beautiful collaboration between Ennio Morricone and Hans Zimmer.

So, obviously, before tagging Hymn... as "another post rock" album, expect to encounter traces of hesitation, because the music within shares far more in common with modern classical music. Admittedly, bands like Sigur Ros and Godspeed You Black Emperor may have already laid claim to such intentions, and that's probably why one would think that Hymn..., no matter how good it might be, couldn't possibly reach the same heights as those aforementioned bands. But neither them nor their followers have created anything quite as cinematic as Mono has here. The mind-splitting opener, and the similarly breathtaking closer, "Everlasting Light" (which is every bit as beautiful as it sounds), are worth the price of admission alone, but there are 5 tracks sandwiched in between them, and almost all of them are just as good. Hymn To The Immortal Wind is a startlingly consistent labor of love, crafted track-for-track with a single goal in mind; to show that, even when Post-Rock dies, genuinely moving instrumental music will always be around, fulfilling man's primal need for meaning and capturing the deepest, most romantic emotions through sound-paintings that continually ebb, flow and soar into the stratosphere. Read more...

Thursday, May 7, 2009

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (2008)

4.5 ★/9.0 - 9.9

I highly doubt there will ever be a band I enjoy listening to more than The Hold Steady. Yes, there are many more talented and versatile bands out there. After all, at the end of the day, The Hold Steady still prefer to describe themselves simply as "Bar Rock", and none of their albums have broken any grounds or anything. But never question their ambition, which has proven itself to be far wider than your everyday bar band. Just listen to the chorus gang shouts and "larger-than-life" bridge of "Constructive Summer". Better yet, just read the lines that Craig Finn is sneering: "We’re gonna build something, this summer! We’ll put it back together - raise up a giant ladder with love, and trust, and friends, and hammers!" There should be no surprise that they're now on Vagrant, sharing their space with artists like Alkaline Trio and Dashboard Confessional. When you figure out the reason why Craig Finn references drinking so much in his songs, his intentions suddenly appear pretty close to Chris Carrabba's. He just wants to get everyone singing along. And with soaring anthems as huge and catchy as "Yeah Sapphire" and "Magazines", his success is practically guaranteed.

Still, when 2009 is coming to its end, Boys And Girls In America is probably going to be looked back on as one of the greatest, straight-up "Rock" albums of the decade, so regardless of how shamelessly enjoyable Stay Positive is, how exactly does it fit into the band's rapidly growing legacy? Both in terms of quality and sound, the answer is somewhere between Separation Sunday and Boys and Girls, although leaning more towards the latter. Plenty of moments touch upon the ragtag, sinister-sounding narratives of the former (see the apocalyptic acoustic passages of "Both Crosses", or the chugging, minor-keyed "Joke About Jamaica"), but overall, thanks to tracks like "Sequestered In Memphis" and the brilliantly anthemic closer, "Slapped Actress", most listeners will probably associate it more with the throwback arena rockers of Boys and Girls. Another reason Stay Positive seems unable to be detached from its predecessor is that the album structure is identical. The driving "Navy Sheets" is comfortably placed as track four, where the same-minded "Same Kooks" sat on Boys And Girls. And instead of "First Night" calming things down after a lightning-charged burst of energy, the equally affecting "Lord I'm Discouraged" functions as the obligatory ballad.

However, rather than come off as redundant, Stay Positive benefits from the blueprint laid out for it. 40 minutes and 11 tracks is an extremely effective format for an album, and while The Hold Steady probably ran the risk of criticism by cutting it so close to their recent-past triumph, the immediacy and craft of almost every single song is undeniable, regardless of what form it's in. Stay Positive is The Hold Steady's least conceptual and adventurous album yet, but it's also their most unabashedly enjoyable one, and besides Boys And Girls, their most consistent one, securing their reputation as the greatest Rock band alive. Read more...

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Aesop Rock - Bazooka Tooth (2003)

4.0 ★/8.0 - 8.9

"Hey Aes, how's it going?"

"EVOLUTIONARYREVOLUTIONARYSPINNINGCRABCAKESINTOWILLIAMTELL'S WHIPPERSNAPPERPIGSNATCHERSLOWBREATHINGFASTFEEDINGFRENZY INTERBREEDINGTHEDAVINCIPINNOCHIOSCISSORHANDSLIKEALONELYBRO RIMSHOTHOBOCLOCKBIFOCALDIVERSIONSINHORATIO'SINTRAVERSIONS BELLIGERENTHODGEPODGENARCISSISTDEVELOPMENTINTOMISHMASH HOGWASHINTRICATEINTERGALACTICSUPERCALIFRAGILISTICTYCOONSWOON MOONCHARACTERLESSMIRRORLESSPREPOSTEROUSMONSTEROUS TYRANOSAURUSEXPIALIDOCIOUS"

"err..."

Remember when Aesop would at least say hi before pummeling you with poetry? The Def Jux-signature style confrontation has usually worked because the artists would lull you into their nightmarish constructs first, and what's more, they would always know when to relent. But Bazooka Tooth doesn't even take the slightest moment to do that, throwing you head-first into pandemonium and never stopping. Triumphing as one of the densest albums ever recorded (possibly second only to Fantastic Damage), it finds the much respected, nasal-voiced underground poet taking his already excessively-complex lyrical style into previously unheard-of levels of incomprehensibility, while shifting his flow and personality as well. Once a weary, world traveler, delivering words of wisdom in a relaxed, detached manner, Aes now sounds positively pissed, aggressively sputtering coked out, yet highly literate, battle raps. Furthermore, unlike Labor Days, where beats were mostly made by somber classicist, Blockhead, Bazooka Tooth features Aes himself primarily handling production duties and crafting beats that are far more tuneless, glitchy and in your face. Just as it sounds, the net result of all these shifts in style is an album that comes off as highly influenced by the rest of the Def Jux label, particularly in emulation of its star pupil, El-P. The influential producer even uses the centerpiece space for his own feud with Esoteric, featuring the scathing diss-rap and album highlight, "We're Famous".

But through its quest to pay homage to the "def jux sound", Bazooka Tooth overlooks having something original to say for itself. What's more is that it reveals a problem as common in underground rap as the lack of talent is in mainstream hip hop; failure to realize that making something inaccessible and obscure doesn't necessarily translate into good music. Tracks like "The Greatest Pac-Man Victory in History" and "Mars Attacks" prove this with pounding webs of jarring percussion and half-assed concepts that both fail to engage. Similarly, most of Bazooka Tooth is exhausting and the amount of effort required to appreciate it fully isn't always worth it.

Sure though, the reasons to hear Bazooka Tooth far outweigh its flaws. Mainly, the material speaks for itself; the hilarious horn-laden "Cook It Up", the militaristic drums of "No Jumper Cables", the fat atmosphere of "Super Fluke", the slinky electronics of "Easy", the drooping horror of "Babies With Guns", the jerking subtleties of "Kill The Messenger" and the list goes on and on. On a simple track-for-track basis, the album is as consistent as one should expect from Aesop Rock and his wordplay is still miles ahead of every other rapper alive. Chances are you won't return to Bazooka Tooth as much as you will Labor Days or Float, and depending on how you listen to music, that might be saying something. But for those fascinated by the impenetrable and with plenty of headphone time to spare, it won’t make a difference. This is quality underground rap and there’s no denying it. Read more...

Monday, May 4, 2009

Beck - Stereopathic Soul Manure (1994)

1.5 ★/3.0 - 3.9

In 1999, Sonic Enemy Records remastered Beck's cassette debut on CD without his permission. When Beck found out, he was furious, and the company halted production. Of course, within the first ten seconds of the opening track, it becomes apparent why. Golden Feelings sounds like it was recorded by a belligerent drunk. But could you blame Sonic Enemy for releasing such an inane recording into a discography that includes something as grating and befuddling as Stereopathic Soul Manure?

Beck is right, however, in that Stereopathic Soul Manure has something that most poorly performed, lo-fi rubbish doesn't (his own included). All the grating, completely pointless noise and talentless acoustic mish-mashing of Golden Feelings is here, but it's been enhanced by an undeniable sense of humor and charm. I challenge you to listen to that nervous runt deliver his ridiculous bullshit stories ("8.6.62", "11.6.45", "8.4.82") without laughing out loud or the witty hoe-down, "Satan Gave Me A Taco" without smiling extensively. Some might say the fact that there's actually some genuine attempts at songs here is what makes it worth hearing, but I'd counter that simple songs like "Rowboat", "Modesto" and "The Spirit That Moves Me" are just as forgettable in their cleanly-recorded, country stylings as "One Foot In The Grave" is in its pedestrian blues or "Tasergun" in its listless sludge. No, the real reason to listen to Stereopathic Soul Manure at all, is to hear a man's story of finding an unopened bottle of beer by a dead wild cat, or to hear Beck's priceless Ozzy Osbourne imitation. But seeing as how it is the music we're dealing with here... Read more...

Friday, May 1, 2009

Caribou - Andorra (2007)

4.0 ★/8.0 - 8.9

Like most musical artists, Daniel Snaith aims to use sound to express emotions. But coming from a genre that's known for it's disregard of humanity (IDM) and possessing a songwriting style that's appropriate for such a background, this has to be quite the challenge. The disconnect between the title of his last album and the sounds within only further proves that. If Daniel had any sincerity with titling his debut as Caribou, The Milk of Human Kindness, it was completely lost on the album's contents; sterile, Krautrock-rooted jamming and genre-hopping nods to record geeks.

The sound of his follow-up however, suggests that maybe the two album names just got mixed up on Daniel's cutting room floor. There's far more "human milk," so to speak, on the first two tracks of Andorra than on the entirety of its prequel. Admittedly, tracks like "Sundialing" and "Niobe" are still tightly constructed with precise, unforgiving rhythms and intensely satisfying build-ups, and electronics still form the basis for most of these songs (See the brilliantly sampled and looped "doo doo doos" of "She's The One"). But whereas the debut came off as mechanical and unforgiving, Andorra's sun soaked glory manages to express something much more than the sum of it's precise polyrhythms and calculated constructs.

Or perhaps it's much less, because if you trek through it's computer driven dense noodling looking for the source of it's humanity, you'll overlook that Andorra is just a plain fun record, filled with Zombies-style sunshine pop, soaring choruses and outlooks as simple as "love is nice". Maybe that's why it works. It sounds as if Daniel came to terms with what he could and couldn't express with his style, and made a rational compromise; to perfectly match his superficial backdrops with equally superficial emotions, crafting an album that's bursting with signs of organic growth and moments of beautiful grace. Read more...
"How many times must a man look up
before he can see the sky?"