May 19th, 2006 3:18pm
When Tomorrow Becomes TodayTacks the Boy Disaster...
When Tomorrow Becomes Today
Tacks the Boy Disaster "Forget-Me-Not" - Going on the records that I've been getting lately, it seems like there are a hell of a lot of indie rock dudes singing in what strikes me as a very Elephant Six sort of style. I'm just getting loads of records that sound like Of Montreal and Olivia Tremor Control outtakes. This guy from Tacks is most certainly doing that thing with his voice - it's crisp and clean and pretty on harmonies, but also a bit pinched and nasal, like someone doing a "nerd voice." The sudden ubiquity of this vocal style is a bit odd but it really suits this particular song, with its pleasant rainy-day piano and drum groove and vaguely old-timey melody. As the song moves along, it seems to rush forward in time, suddenly vanishing into the future as it comes to an abrupt, back-masked ending. (Click here for Tacks the Boy Disaster's MySpace page.)
Pearl Jam "Lukin / Not For You --> Modern Girl / Grievance" (Live @ Curitiba, Brazil 11/30/2005) - For no particular reason other than that I had just listened to some of the songs from their new album, I revisited Pearl Jam's Vitalogy on the train ride home on Wednesday. The record still sounds pretty great, and I maintain that it's their best record by a considerable margin. I haven't paid much attention to Eddie Vedder's lyrics since I was sixteen, but in listening to the words now, I've noticed that the themes of Vitalogy are pretty much the same as the expected tropes of a rap record. I don't mean to be glib, but the album finds Vedder concerned with repeatedly asserting his authenticity, raging against haters and fake friends, mourning the loss of deceased comrades, pondering his own mortality, and generally feeling paranoid and persecuted. He indulges in weird skits, chastises biters on "Corduroy," and includes a sentimental song about his mother's hard luck life. If only he had written one boasting about his vocal and/or sexual prowess! (Actually, no, I could really do without songs about Eddie Vedder having sex.) (Though maybe that's what's going on at the end of "Jeremy"?)
"Not For You" remains as a personal favorite, and features a line that is probably the best advice that I ever got from a song as a teenager: "If you hate something, don't you do it too." After all this time, that lyric still sticks with me, as if I'd written it on a post-it note tacked up to a wall in my mind. (Click here to buy it from Pearl Jam.)
Tacks the Boy Disaster "Forget-Me-Not" - Going on the records that I've been getting lately, it seems like there are a hell of a lot of indie rock dudes singing in what strikes me as a very Elephant Six sort of style. I'm just getting loads of records that sound like Of Montreal and Olivia Tremor Control outtakes. This guy from Tacks is most certainly doing that thing with his voice - it's crisp and clean and pretty on harmonies, but also a bit pinched and nasal, like someone doing a "nerd voice." The sudden ubiquity of this vocal style is a bit odd but it really suits this particular song, with its pleasant rainy-day piano and drum groove and vaguely old-timey melody. As the song moves along, it seems to rush forward in time, suddenly vanishing into the future as it comes to an abrupt, back-masked ending. (Click here for Tacks the Boy Disaster's MySpace page.)
Pearl Jam "Lukin / Not For You --> Modern Girl / Grievance" (Live @ Curitiba, Brazil 11/30/2005) - For no particular reason other than that I had just listened to some of the songs from their new album, I revisited Pearl Jam's Vitalogy on the train ride home on Wednesday. The record still sounds pretty great, and I maintain that it's their best record by a considerable margin. I haven't paid much attention to Eddie Vedder's lyrics since I was sixteen, but in listening to the words now, I've noticed that the themes of Vitalogy are pretty much the same as the expected tropes of a rap record. I don't mean to be glib, but the album finds Vedder concerned with repeatedly asserting his authenticity, raging against haters and fake friends, mourning the loss of deceased comrades, pondering his own mortality, and generally feeling paranoid and persecuted. He indulges in weird skits, chastises biters on "Corduroy," and includes a sentimental song about his mother's hard luck life. If only he had written one boasting about his vocal and/or sexual prowess! (Actually, no, I could really do without songs about Eddie Vedder having sex.) (Though maybe that's what's going on at the end of "Jeremy"?)
"Not For You" remains as a personal favorite, and features a line that is probably the best advice that I ever got from a song as a teenager: "If you hate something, don't you do it too." After all this time, that lyric still sticks with me, as if I'd written it on a post-it note tacked up to a wall in my mind. (Click here to buy it from Pearl Jam.)
5/19/06 4:45 pm
That Tacks song starts out okay, but ultimately, it doesn’t go anywhere. So anticlimactic. I expected some sort of nice crescendo at the end, but it ended with just a dull pileup of sound.
5/19/06 5:01 pm
I get the sense that the song isn’t actually finished yet. It’s not officially released, after all.
5/19/06 5:31 pm
You are right about Vitalogy — the record stands head and shoulders above their others, to the extent I know anything they’ve done since then well enough to judge. “Spin The Black Circle” is the best PJ jam.
5/19/06 6:40 pm
Hey I just wanted to say congrats on getting mentioned in Entertainment Weekly on the list of the 25 Best Music Websites. ThatÂ’s very cool
Keep up the great job, Matthew!
5/19/06 7:37 pm
Whoa, really? I had no idea, and the current issue hasn’t arrived in my mail yet. That’s fantastic. I really love EW, and the site has been mentioned pretty much everywhere except the one magazine that I have a subscription to, so this is really awesome news for me.
5/19/06 7:49 pm
and here I thought I was in the minority for thinking Vitalogy was their best record.
5/19/06 7:54 pm
No, I get the sense that Vitalogy is the favorite of people who are lapsed PJ fans and/or rock critics. No Code comes close, probably.
5/20/06 2:22 am
All the links are broken for some reason… At least for me.
BTW, here’s the Entertainment Weekly article. Not sure if it’s online only or also in the print version.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/commentary/0,6115,1195793_4_0_,00.html
5/20/06 3:55 am
Bandwidth? Oh, no!
5/20/06 4:28 am
Ah, it’ll be back in a little bit, but seriously, this is getting insane and I’m really sure what on earth I’m going to do about this. I might have to make some changes.
5/20/06 10:32 am
congrats, matt, you’re a great writer and very clever and intelligent. i like your writing sometimes more than the songs.
5/23/06 9:40 am
no code is the best pearl jam album. doesnt have the brooding darkness (mannered though it may be) of vitology, but its the most diverse muscially. and has the only legitimate folk song that vedder ever wrote (’off he goes’). ten is just over-the-top and straight up unlistenable, but vs. has some useful moments if youre wanting to stare your adolecence in its romantically pained face. yield was alright. i didnt listen to any after that.
and… Tacks the boy disaster is the best band i’ve seen in a while. like watching a jazz group play pop songs. very very very few indie bands play with the mastery and nuance they do. the ep’s great but its really only a hint of what theyre capable of.