A Gentle Devastation

There’s very little I can say about Wayne Coyne’s essays about Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, The Soft Bulletin, and Zaireeka! without veering off into hyperbole about how brilliant and inspiring I think Coyne is, without seeming like an awestruck fanboy. But I am in awe of this man, and I do think that he is one of the most wonderful and creative artists currently working today. Just go read them, okay?

The Kids Are Coming Up From Behind Me

After having read some analysis of the song in Badger and Technicolor’s blogs, I downloaded the LCD Soundsystem “Losing My Edge” song from Soulseek. For whatever reason, the lyrics don’t seem to interest/provoke me nearly as much as did either of them. The lyrics are all about record-collector culture, the lyrics namedrop a number of artists from record geek canon, the singer keeps claiming that he was there, that he’s losing his edge to the kids in France, London, and Brooklyn. It’s a pretty good parody of snobby elitists in mid-life crisis, but I don’t think it’s particularly cruel or cutting. It seems like a very loving caricature to me, that the singer clearly likes the music and culture being namechecked, and has some affection for the character in the song in spite of his implied criticism. The music is pretty good too – it’s a very nervous electro rock song, exactly the kind of music most fashionable for the kind of person being parodied in the song right now. The singer sounds sort of like the young David Byrne, but also a little bit like Stephen Malkmus on “Conduit For Sale!” from Slanted & Enchanted. It’s a pretty cool song, all in all. I can’t imagine very many people digging this song without in some way being a variation of the character in the song, though. But that’s intentional, right?

Treat My Body Like A Guitar

Wow!

That’s the most important thing that I have to say about Beyonce Knowles’ peformance of “Work It Out” on The Tonight Show.

This woman is a real talent, and I just sort of feel bad for anyone who can’t see that or won’t admit it. She was paying homage to Tina Turner visually and musically, in the best way – it was pretty obvious that she was giving credit where credit is due, but she was 100% Beyonce on stage. Her enthusiasm and passion for the song was abudantly obvious, the way she ran around the stage was surprisingly commanding for a person who very seldom performs in this way.

The song translated to a live band performance really well, which seems to be the case for a lot of Neptunes songs (for example, the performance of “I Just Want To Love U” on Jay-Z’s MTV Unplugged album, about half of the re-recorded N.E.R.D. LP), and makes me confident that the Neptunes’ plans to do most of their upcoming work with a full band is a good idea. The way Beyonce and the band played off each other was top-notch, and the looser sound the band played in emphasized the bassline and the horns in a way the recording does not. It was all energy, it was all soul. It was immediate, and just a little bit raw for all its professionalism. I’m really glad that I was able to tape this, because it’s probably one of my favorite live performances that I’ve ever seen on television.

Wow!