August 5th, 2013 12:07pm
Beck @ Prospect Park Bandshell 8/4/2013
Devil’s Haircut / Black Tambourine / Soul of a Man / One Foot in the Grave / Tainted Love – Modern Guilt / Think I’m In Love – I Feel Love / Gamma Ray / Loser / Hotwax / Que Onda Guero / Girl / Soldier Jane / Chemtrails / The Golden Age / Lost Cause / Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometimes / Just Noise / Heaven’s Ladder / 14 Rivers 14 Floods / Sissyneck – Billie Jean // E-Pro / Where It’s At
Beck’s approach to setlists over the past few years boils down to: “Here is a totally delightful overview of my incredible body of work without anything from my masterpiece, Midnite Vultures.” (Or Mutations, for that matter.) I don’t feel aggrieved about this because his show is very, very good and entertaining, but it’s just getting to a point where it’s very confusing and strange that Beck himself seems to have negative feelings about this period of his work even if many, many people believe that it’s actually his finest era. It’s not as if a cut from either of those records wouldn’t have fit in – the show basically moved between four basic modes – blues-based rock, blank-eyed psychedelia, sad folky stuff, and goofy funk. It’s very impressive how well the set flows between these vibes: The shifts never seem jarring, though I did notice how much the freeform, silly lyrics of his mid-90s period differs from the most blunt and plainspoken words of his more recent material.
August 2nd, 2013 11:56am
I truly love how artless the lyrics of this song are – there’s almost no poetry to it, just a clear articulation of thoughts and feelings. It sounds almost as if she’s just setting an email or a series of texts to a tune, and singing it all with a heart-on-sleeve candor, and just a tiny bit of hesitation. But I guess it’s easier to be brave and say all this in a song, especially when you can just fill the awkward silences with “ba ba ba ba.” We don’t usually get that kind of buffer in real life.
August 1st, 2013 11:48am
This is a pretty simple and straight forward pop song about dating someone and not really being sure how they feel about you, and though that’s kind of a banal topic, the band nails the mood by conveying this perfect balance of mild angst and excited anticipation. “Is This How You Feel?” is never a bummer or too intense, but there’s a clear emotional investment in every moment of it, and there’s a sense that she’s pretty nervous about finding out the answer to that question, even if it’s the answer she’s hoping for.
July 30th, 2013 3:13am
This is one of the best constructed pop songs I have heard in a while. I was hesitant about this band and was thoroughly on board for this song within 20 seconds. This is just an extraordinarily efficient and meticulously crafted piece of pop machinery, but it doesn’t feel cold, clinical, or over-eager to bludgeon you hooks. Everything is balanced, and the emphasis is always firmly placed on the melody and the emotion of the vocals. When a record company asks a band to please go back and write a single, this is the platonic ideal they have in mind. It’s like Shania Twain, but if she was backed by Damn the Torpedoes-era Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and produced by Lindsey Buckingham, and sung by three different women who all have a fantastic gift for phrasing. I could listen to this song forever, and probably will.
July 29th, 2013 11:45am
Daughn Gibson’s voice is sorta ridiculous, and there’s no getting around it – it’s deep and sonorous and masculine to such an extreme that it nearly comes off like a parody. If you want to flatter him, you’d compare him to Johnny Cash, but without intending to throw any shade whatsoever, I think he sounds a lot more like the dude from Crash Test Dummies. Like that guy, Gibson seems burdened by the weight of his own voice, but can’t help but indulge in its richness. “The Sound of Law” is a perfect vehicle for a voice like this – Gibson’s vocals add a touch of authority to this urgent, dramatic music, but also a touch of camp that keeps it from getting bogged down in seriousness.
July 26th, 2013 12:00pm
“There must be some finesse to self worth” is one of the most painful lyrics I’ve heard in a while, especially in the context of a song about a guy having an affair with a man who is married to a woman. The song is gorgeous – the piano is very Satie, but the melody and arrangement remind me a lot of Prince in his late ’80s ballad mode. The song kinda swoons and flutters, but the ache is so overwhelming. Just hearing it, you can understand the conflict of getting caught up in this intense romance while knowing that you’re giving up a lot of yourself and that there’s very little chance of it working out.
July 24th, 2013 12:22pm
I never really paid attention to Superchunk when I was a teenager in the 90s because compared to a lllllllll of the other major indie rock acts going at the time, they just sounded like a pretty normal band to me. And like, that’s what they were: A pretty normal rock band that had good songs. Flash forward to now, and they’ve barely changed, but suddenly they seem less normal. There’s not many good rock bands, much less great ones, and so now Superchunk truly stand out, and an energetic, ultra-catchy song like “FOH” is like a bucket of water in the middle of a drought. I don’t mean this to come off like a backhanded compliment: This isn’t just fun because there’s so little competition, I actually think Superchunk have improved a lot, and the elder statesman thing gives them an identity they didn’t quite have in their youth. I mean, this song is basically about being a rock and roll lifer, you know?
July 23rd, 2013 12:36pm
Earl Sweatshirt’s style is very well suited to very slooooooow beats where he can keep his cadence cold and steady, but not quite monotonous. “Hive” is one of these – an itchy, paranoid atmosphere, and a beat that seems to crawl along behind Earl, Casey, and Vince’s voices. The effect is a bit unnerving, and because the lyrics are so detailed and carefully constructed, it can feel a little like trying to pay close attention to something when you’re so dazed you can barely keep your eyes open.
July 22nd, 2013 12:23pm
Am I alone in thinking this song sounds like air conditioning feels? It’s in Ed Macfarlane’s voice, it’s in the keyboard tone, it’s in the groove, it’s in the timbre of the light cymbal hits. It feels cool and refreshing. It carries over to the mood of it too, in the way Macfarlane’s performance sounds like an overheated emotion that’s been put on ice. When the song really picks up and you get to that emotional/physical peak, it’s like experiencing the best of both worlds – hyperbolic feeling mixed with relaxation, physical exertion blended with a sense of relief. I can’t think of many songs from 2013 that feel anywhere near as good as this.
July 18th, 2013 12:01pm
This new Beck single basically picks up where he left off with Modern Guilt – stiff grooves and a lot of atmosphere, but since Danger Mouse isn’t involved, it doesn’t feel so compressed and stifling. Like a few other songs he’s recorded over the past few years, “I Won’t Be Long” has this dramatic yet low key handsome-voiced sexy vibe going on, and I really appreciate this. There’s not a lot of male artists working in this vein, and that sound really flatters him. It’s funny – I don’t think anyone in the mid-90s would have expected that Beck would grow to become such a nuanced vocalist, but here we are.
July 16th, 2013 11:55am
Speedy Ortiz get pegged as a mid ’90s indie rock throwback, and that’s accurate up to a point, but to get really specific, they’re a lot more like what those musicians got up to long after that glory era. Large chunks of their debut remind me of Mary Timony in those limbo years after her first two solo records but before Wild Flag, and their best song by far, “No Below,” sounds quite a lot like what Stephen Malkmus was up to on Mirror Traffic a few years ago. But where those songs reflect on the seeming stability of adult life, Speedy Ortiz is more concerned with looking back on troubled youth – the song is about an ostracized kid who finds solace in making one true friend. It verges on being totally maudlin, but the subject matter makes a virtue of the slack sway of the music and the wounded tone of the vocals.
July 15th, 2013 12:01pm
Learning that Robin Thicke is a 35-year-old man who has been married for years to a woman he’s been with since he was 16 totally changed my perspective on his music. If you don’t know that, he just seems like this ultra-lascivious guy who is just relentlessly hitting on women. But listening to his music with the assumption that he’s always singing about the same woman, it’s…sorta sweet? He’s just this guy who can’t get enough of his wife, and loves nothing more than to buy underwear for her, and have sex like they just met two weeks ago. This context doesn’t make his music any less lecherous or sleazy too, and that’s great – “Give It 2 U” is an ideal vehicle for some ultra-raunchy lyrics given the way the synth parts throb in this sort of obscene way, but Thicke’s vocals are both ultra-lusty and earnestly romantic. He gives the song a dimension it probably wouldn’t have otherwise.
July 12th, 2013 12:13pm
Belle & Sebastian @ Prospect Park Bandshell 7/11/2013
Judy Is A Dick Slap / I’m A Cuckoo / Another Sunny Day / The Stars of Track and Field / I Want the World to Stop / To Be Myself Completely / Lord Anthony / Funny Little Frog / I Don’t Love Anyone / Piazza, New York Catcher / Your Cover’s Blown / I Didn’t See It Coming / Simple Things / The Boy with the Arab Strap / Legal Man / Judy and the Dream of Horses // Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying / Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
If you have never seen Belle & Sebastian and only know them by their reputation for being quite soft and sad, you might be surprised to learn that their concerts are quite energetic and fun, and that Stuart Murdoch is an outgoing and natural entertainer. Also, there are more up-tempo Belle & Sebastian songs than fey ballads. This was a delightful show – a nice survey of their body of work, and a very enthusiastic audience, even when the stage wasn’t flooded with girls from the audience on “The Boy with the Arab Strap” and “Legal Man.”
I was thinking when they played “I’m A Cuckoo” about how I can’t think of many other songs about breaking up with someone but trying to remain friends with them, and having to struggle with trying to keep a distance with the change in your relationship, and desperately needing them for emotional support when you’re depressed because you’ve spent so much time with only just them to provide that for you. And then, like, being mindful of boundaries and feeling guilty for crossing them? And trying to be happy, though you feel lonely and adrift? This must happen to people a lot, right? You would think it would be the subject of more songs. (Well, outside of Dear Catastrophe Waitress.)
July 10th, 2013 11:52am
Jay-Z’s most interesting lyrics these days are focused on his frustration with attaining an extraordinarily high level of success, but still feeling shut out from the highest echelons of society. He’s sending a message to everyone coming up behind him: No matter what you do, you’re going to have to confront racism. In this song, he’s talking about making enough money that he can force himself into their community whether they like it or not – rap star gentrification, basically. But once he gets there, he just watches some rich white girl pop star appropriate dance moves from his culture, and all he can do is laugh with bitter condescension.
July 9th, 2013 11:48am
If it were up to me, this song would eclipse Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” to be the biggest hit of the summer. I like both of those songs, but they’re just a bit too mellow – I like my summer jams to be more brash and aggressive, and Nicki Minaj’s verses and Ciara’s bold hooks on this track totally hit that sweet spot. Also, in comparison to Daft Punk and Robin Thicke’s songs, which treat women like passive playthings from another universe, this track is all about assertive women doing exactly what they want. And, uh, womping on some girl your ex is dating now, but never mind that.
July 8th, 2013 12:04pm
I know that “sweet” is not a word that suits the music El-P and Killer Mike have been making over the past year or so, but I can’t listen to any of it now without thinking about their partnership as a hip-hop love story in which these two guys who have been kicking around for years finally found a collaborator who truly completes them. Their styles are so simpatico – there share a true reverence for late 80s rap, but their music doesn’t sound dated; they use that old style and aggression for something that sounds sharp, heavy, and fresh today. And maybe that’s because they stand out so much in the context of contemporary rap, and maybe it’s because there’s an anger and cynicism in their voices that rings true in a way that wouldn’t feel as legit coming from younger men. Their age and experience is a benefit, particularly when they rhyme together – there’s a sense, underneath everything, that they’ve both got a second chance to shine in their career, and they’re not taking it for granted.
July 3rd, 2013 11:40am
This is the kind of song Andrew Falkous was put on this earth to write and sing: A hyper-masculine and aggressive tune that is basically about feeling horrible about male privilege while knowing that mindless, natural lust will always get in the way of good intentions. There’s so much guilt, ambivalence, and self-loathing in this song, and the big dumb AC/DC style riff in the first half is pointed self-parody, as if to grudgingly admit “I’m just so bro caveman.”
July 1st, 2013 1:05am
Matt LeMay organized a tribute concert to Scott Miller on Saturday night at Cake Shop in New York City, and I was there to contribute a brief reading of Scott’s brilliant music criticism. There were a lot of performances – AC Newman, Ted Leo, Doug Gillard, Charles from The Wrens, Jennifer O’Connor, Home Blitz, Matt himself – but the one that really stopped me cold was by Will Sheff, which I wasn’t really expecting since I’ve never been into his work. (No disrespect, just not really my thing.)
Sheff performed a cover of “Screwed Over By Stylish Introverts,” which immediately impressed me since it’s always been one of my favorite Miller compositions. His version, stripped of all the odd noises and flourishes of Miller’s studio recording, cut straight to the unbearable sadness of the lyrics. It’s odd, but it never really occurred to me how much of Scott’s lyrics were about depression, even despite the fact that he had songs with titles like “Slit My Wrists” and “Deee-Pression,” and one of his best known tunes has the chorus “I bet you’ve never actually seen a person die of loneliness.” But knowing now just how much he struggled with depression in his life, it’s very hard to get through a couplet like “You let me know that calling just because I’m lonely is completely rude / You could work this into a lecture to the starving not to beg for food.” It’s even worse on me because I recognize that sentiment all too well.
So now the entire Game Theory and Loud Family body of work has this new context for me, and a new resonance. If there’s a thread through all of it, some kind of greater narrative, it’s basically this one immensely articulate and highly cerebral man’s attempt to rationalize the most irrational parts of his mind, and the most agonizing aspects of being alive. A lot of the songs push in other directions, and celebrate both banal and extraordinary parts of life, but even then, he’s incredibly analytical or at some intellectual distance from his subject. I feel like I’ve known people like this in my life, and sometimes I’m the same way. So now I hear these old songs and I feel a sense of recognition, and a deep empathy.
June 27th, 2013 12:21pm
I’d been hearing about Pretty Lights for a while, and knew it some kind of electronic act who headlined a lot of big festivals and had a huge light show, but I was very lazy about actually checking out the music. I think I assumed the worst, and figured it was just generic EDM and the light show was the reason people liked them so much at communal events but didn’t seem to buy their records. So I was surprised when I heard their new album, Color Map of the Sun, and discovered that the music was in fact much more like DJ Shadow circa Endtroducing… than, say, Deadmau5. It’s not a straight copy – you get that general vibe and mishmash of old soul and breakbeats, but it’s rooted in contemporary dance production, so there’s a more electro feel, and occasional bass drops. The album is best heard as a whole, but “Color of My Soul” is the best intro to what Pretty Lights is doing – a bit mysterious, very emotional, and epic in scale.
June 26th, 2013 11:54am
Lightning Dust’s single “Diamond” has a cool, patient sound to it, but you can hear Amber Webber crack a little as she sings it, like she’s just barely holding back a tidal wave of emotion. She blames her feelings on the chemicals in her brain, and remains stoic when someone apologizes for not being in love with her, but as much as she tries to hold it together and be a rational adult, her sadness and affection bleeds through in every note, lending the song a subtle but powerful drama.
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