Trent Reznor has gone and married a girl. After his band the Nine Inch Nails departed after a very great few years of tour, he had told his people he'd be making something sort of new and this is the first result. I will be completely honest it's not very common that I think it is good for a musician to create with his lover or wife. Some exceptions of course can be brought to brain (Sonny and Cher, WHAM!) but mostly these types of collaborations don't bring out the better of any of the artists.
The first time I listened to these 6 songs I was like 'It's musical like Trent but it's got this girl singing' and it was hard to get over this exit ramp. But then something happened about when I'm over the second way through: it was like wow. She is at first the sound of Nine Inch Nails on a chalkboard or some whining sorority babe, then it hit me that she wasn't either of those two. She has a lot of presence and is breathing longer than Trent Reznor would if he was the person on the microphone. More of a percussion type singer in the vein of a Phil Collins or even a Chuck D maybe, but she is actually holding out the notes longer and more appealing with the similar anger managed percussion and drum bass sounds underneath.
The second song is actually more like a NIN song with Trent and Kewpie Doll singing at the same moment, and it's pretty great. I found more that I listened the more I was drawn to listening in again like maybe later Neu! or mid-period Wire maybe? I don't really know. It's kind of it's own sound, something unusually in the times. 'Fur Lined' is a lot like the song by Trent called 'Only' in fact I'd bet he used the same drum box for the production sounds. She is growing on me. At seven minutes, the EP closer 'The Drowning' is exceptional on headphones and very closer in sound to some of Reznor's last few recordings. I think this is a great start for a 'new' band and I hope they don't get tired of fucking so they can make new music (rumor is a baby is next, that's kind of interesting! I hope it's 'Head Like a Hole! haha!)
Monday, June 28, 2010
MUSIC! 'This Is Happening' by LCD Soundsystem
For a brief moment at a younger time, I was very eager to learn to how to tame tigers. I think there was a show on Kunskapskanalen about the tamers of lions, bears and sea creatures at circus parks. There is something about being able to take something that is alive and wild and making it do things that you ask of it when you ask with no fear. When I listen to LCD Soundsystem, I feel a similar feeling that I felt about being a wild animal dominator: James Murphy takes things that seem wild and brings them into a way of being together in almost perfection.
The first song on this music album is really something. Some people say he is just a clever mimicry of The Talking Heads or David Bowie or some other greats, which hey that's pretty cool! What pop music isn't borrowed from it's other forefathers? LCD Soundsystem always makes me feel gay. And when I say makes me feel gay, I actually mean I would maybe have sex with a man. I don't ever feel this way. When I watched the men's diving of the Olympics I didn't even have any tingling. But when I listen to LCD Soundsystem I feel like having sex, and maybe with a tiger, a tame one I mean. I think it would be dangerous to attempt this with something in the jungle.
'This is Happening' has such a deep insertion of beats and wonderful melody. It's dancing but also is making you think. Parts of 'Drunk Girls' as much as one could say it's a throwaway part are extremely sweaty, heavily lubricated penetrations. I can only imagine the crowds of an NYC party just being really sexual all over each other as it plays.
'One Touch' has some great analog type sounds that start out being very out of synchronicity but take on a whole as the song climaxes. The lyrics are a meta way that is signature Murphy: 'I don't think that we will be pleased with this/we have waited a long time' it might be about Obama, or about the band itself waiting so long to make another song release, or maybe prolonging climax as the Asian says 'One Touch!' as well along with him. The song 'All I Want' reminds me a lot of Brian Eno 'Another Green World' album with longer guitar fedback girth.
On 'You Wanted A Hit' there's a feel of the Far East or a massage parlour maybe in the seedy underbelly of a city. It reminds me of the movie 'Big Trouble In Little China' in which Jack Burton is hilarious~! There's a lot of slow grind to the latter few tracks as in a pornographic or perhaps a club of strippers. If I were James Murphy and walked in a place with stripping and heard my own voice, I'd be so happy! haha!
Is that 'Nightclubbing' by Iggy Pop? Oh no it's track 8! 'Somebody's Calling Me'! Maybe somebody should call Iggy Pop's lawyers! ha ha! Overall though this is righteously great regardless of it's more obvious taking from other places. Life is too short to think that we're not all big tiger tamers!!!
The first song on this music album is really something. Some people say he is just a clever mimicry of The Talking Heads or David Bowie or some other greats, which hey that's pretty cool! What pop music isn't borrowed from it's other forefathers? LCD Soundsystem always makes me feel gay. And when I say makes me feel gay, I actually mean I would maybe have sex with a man. I don't ever feel this way. When I watched the men's diving of the Olympics I didn't even have any tingling. But when I listen to LCD Soundsystem I feel like having sex, and maybe with a tiger, a tame one I mean. I think it would be dangerous to attempt this with something in the jungle.
'This is Happening' has such a deep insertion of beats and wonderful melody. It's dancing but also is making you think. Parts of 'Drunk Girls' as much as one could say it's a throwaway part are extremely sweaty, heavily lubricated penetrations. I can only imagine the crowds of an NYC party just being really sexual all over each other as it plays.
'One Touch' has some great analog type sounds that start out being very out of synchronicity but take on a whole as the song climaxes. The lyrics are a meta way that is signature Murphy: 'I don't think that we will be pleased with this/we have waited a long time' it might be about Obama, or about the band itself waiting so long to make another song release, or maybe prolonging climax as the Asian says 'One Touch!' as well along with him. The song 'All I Want' reminds me a lot of Brian Eno 'Another Green World' album with longer guitar fedback girth.
On 'You Wanted A Hit' there's a feel of the Far East or a massage parlour maybe in the seedy underbelly of a city. It reminds me of the movie 'Big Trouble In Little China' in which Jack Burton is hilarious~! There's a lot of slow grind to the latter few tracks as in a pornographic or perhaps a club of strippers. If I were James Murphy and walked in a place with stripping and heard my own voice, I'd be so happy! haha!
Is that 'Nightclubbing' by Iggy Pop? Oh no it's track 8! 'Somebody's Calling Me'! Maybe somebody should call Iggy Pop's lawyers! ha ha! Overall though this is righteously great regardless of it's more obvious taking from other places. Life is too short to think that we're not all big tiger tamers!!!
Friday, June 18, 2010
MUSIC! 'Cold Dime' and 'Strawberry Told Me' by Peephole (EPs)
This is a Brooklyn NY band with nods to Prince, The Police and maybe disco stuff like The Bravery or The Killers. I have downloaded for no cost two of their EPs so I will discuss them here.
'Cold Dime': this one is particularly appealing. It's very laid back even though there's a lot of dancing type drumming. 'Black Topaz' has a very Duran Duran sax sound with a really nice guitar part. Some of the arrangements might be a nod to Bryan Ferry type music, or maybe mid-period Robert Palmer. I picture the singer with a tie and suit that is maybe just a little oversized, not in a way that's like David Byrne is known. 'Good Luck Mikey' is like post-Revolution Prince period when he had that thing on his face. 'Guilty Boat' sounds like 'Obsession' song in the 80's but then gets murky.
'Strawberry Told Me' This EP is the sexier of the three. The singer is cooing and sounding somewhat African American in his delivery. This could be a good album to put on after a night out with a lady once you've done the conviction to get her to come back for you to put it on with some white wine or maybe lower lighting. There are some moments where this singer maybe could put a little more into it, but that's either here or there. 'Rita Done Me Wrong' is a groovy number with a cool bass line also reminiscent of John Taylor. The lyrics sound like maybe he's had some issues after being with a woman sexually and is mad at her or at least annoyed a bit. It's hard to say. I hope it's fictitious, but sometimes I know New York gets a little crazy. 'Club Agoraphobia' shows a nice shake with haunting words about being afraid.
This is a nice band with good instincts of arrangement and melody and rhythms. It might be worth staying in touch with them for new things.
'Cold Dime': this one is particularly appealing. It's very laid back even though there's a lot of dancing type drumming. 'Black Topaz' has a very Duran Duran sax sound with a really nice guitar part. Some of the arrangements might be a nod to Bryan Ferry type music, or maybe mid-period Robert Palmer. I picture the singer with a tie and suit that is maybe just a little oversized, not in a way that's like David Byrne is known. 'Good Luck Mikey' is like post-Revolution Prince period when he had that thing on his face. 'Guilty Boat' sounds like 'Obsession' song in the 80's but then gets murky.
'Strawberry Told Me' This EP is the sexier of the three. The singer is cooing and sounding somewhat African American in his delivery. This could be a good album to put on after a night out with a lady once you've done the conviction to get her to come back for you to put it on with some white wine or maybe lower lighting. There are some moments where this singer maybe could put a little more into it, but that's either here or there. 'Rita Done Me Wrong' is a groovy number with a cool bass line also reminiscent of John Taylor. The lyrics sound like maybe he's had some issues after being with a woman sexually and is mad at her or at least annoyed a bit. It's hard to say. I hope it's fictitious, but sometimes I know New York gets a little crazy. 'Club Agoraphobia' shows a nice shake with haunting words about being afraid.
This is a nice band with good instincts of arrangement and melody and rhythms. It might be worth staying in touch with them for new things.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
MUSIC! 'Stone Temple Pilots' by Stone Temple Pilots
My girlfriend things the singer of the band is sexual. It is easy to see, I guess, if it was 1992 or maybe even 1993. However now that we're years into the end of grunge, Stone Template Pilots must be taken at the value of their face. Some have viled the band of being an inexpensive and vacant version of 70's classic rockers. It could be said. Some of their songs since their beginning could be said to be classic: 'Sour Girl' with the fuckable Sarah Michelle Gellar video or the 'Insertate Love Song' which is easily as classic as A Rolling Stones song could be said to be the last classic rock band?
Let's listen to this new record!
It's familiar on first listen, not always the best thing. But the first two tracks are appealing in their nods to great bands like Led Zeppelin and maybe even some Beach Boys or Beatles accusations. The music has a classic sound and keeps my ears. 'Take A Load Off' actually has a Jimmy Page riff Jimmy Page would probably like. Sometimes bands like STP can be sounding too harsh in their production. This isn't the case here. There are good layers to Weiland's vocals but not in a distraction or in an obvious way. Some of this record I'm finding I like. There is quite a bit to eat, but most of it seems very delicious. Of course, haters will find the same cliche's that this band embraced to be honed to razor's edge on this, but why is this a bad thing?
Halfway through the album 'Cinnamon' comes in like a breezy California breeze. It's maybe the more pandering of the tracks, but it's still sincere in its banality. Perhaps the band isn't afraid to say 'here we are, and here is the music we love to rip off in our own ways'. I can dig that. 'Bagman' is a great nod to 70's Van Halen or maybe 'Diver Down' time.
Most bands will come up with a story of how the things that before weren't affecting them - I'm thinking of Jack White in a magazine exclaiming that Led Zeppelin didn't really ingrain in him, which is a laugh! If you listen to The White Stripes, it is obtuse that Jack White listened to a ship load of Robert Paint.
I regress. This Stone Temple Pilots is amazing in its inability to innovate, and this is something some bands could educate themselves about.
Let's listen to this new record!
It's familiar on first listen, not always the best thing. But the first two tracks are appealing in their nods to great bands like Led Zeppelin and maybe even some Beach Boys or Beatles accusations. The music has a classic sound and keeps my ears. 'Take A Load Off' actually has a Jimmy Page riff Jimmy Page would probably like. Sometimes bands like STP can be sounding too harsh in their production. This isn't the case here. There are good layers to Weiland's vocals but not in a distraction or in an obvious way. Some of this record I'm finding I like. There is quite a bit to eat, but most of it seems very delicious. Of course, haters will find the same cliche's that this band embraced to be honed to razor's edge on this, but why is this a bad thing?
Halfway through the album 'Cinnamon' comes in like a breezy California breeze. It's maybe the more pandering of the tracks, but it's still sincere in its banality. Perhaps the band isn't afraid to say 'here we are, and here is the music we love to rip off in our own ways'. I can dig that. 'Bagman' is a great nod to 70's Van Halen or maybe 'Diver Down' time.
Most bands will come up with a story of how the things that before weren't affecting them - I'm thinking of Jack White in a magazine exclaiming that Led Zeppelin didn't really ingrain in him, which is a laugh! If you listen to The White Stripes, it is obtuse that Jack White listened to a ship load of Robert Paint.
I regress. This Stone Temple Pilots is amazing in its inability to innovate, and this is something some bands could educate themselves about.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
MUSIC! 'Head First' by Goldfrapp
First off, it is very hard to take seriously a band with a name sounding like coffee drinks. My girlfriend has been asking me to write sometimes about music that she finds good, so she gave me this record. I am sorry it sounds like a bad TV show theme on song one 'Rocket'. I am half waiting to see a private detective come out around the corner of my room while it is playing with his name appearing under him, which would be actually quite cool if it happened I think.
The second track is called 'Believer' and has some promising Kraftwerk (yes!) sounds to it until the singer starts to sing. She sounds like a white version of Paula Abdul (I am sorry if Paula Abdul is white: it's hard to tell and we watch American Idol on my girlfriends' black and white TV). Some of the chorus of this song is kind of nice like if I were to be shopping. Honestly though I'm mostly bored here. Song three (really it seems like I've been listening for a long time already) is like a song by Billy Joel for that funny show about the guys that dressed as girls to get there flat! That show was so good when I was little. If this song were the theme to it though I probably wouldn't have liked it as good.
The next song is called 'Dreaming' and I'm dreaming of changing the CD! Haha. It's funny because the music starts out very German and turns quickly into a car commercial, but maybe that's the point. Some bands with girls can do this better (Portishead, Everything Has the Girl) but something is missing in the Goldfrapp: it's too latte!
'I Wanna Life' is the same sound as 'I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight' from the 1980's. In fact most of this record is in the 80's. She even says 'too much, too little, too late' like the song from the 80's, and now that I think about it, I think I'm going to go '86' these files and listen to some Motörhead just to heal my ears!
The second track is called 'Believer' and has some promising Kraftwerk (yes!) sounds to it until the singer starts to sing. She sounds like a white version of Paula Abdul (I am sorry if Paula Abdul is white: it's hard to tell and we watch American Idol on my girlfriends' black and white TV). Some of the chorus of this song is kind of nice like if I were to be shopping. Honestly though I'm mostly bored here. Song three (really it seems like I've been listening for a long time already) is like a song by Billy Joel for that funny show about the guys that dressed as girls to get there flat! That show was so good when I was little. If this song were the theme to it though I probably wouldn't have liked it as good.
The next song is called 'Dreaming' and I'm dreaming of changing the CD! Haha. It's funny because the music starts out very German and turns quickly into a car commercial, but maybe that's the point. Some bands with girls can do this better (Portishead, Everything Has the Girl) but something is missing in the Goldfrapp: it's too latte!
'I Wanna Life' is the same sound as 'I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight' from the 1980's. In fact most of this record is in the 80's. She even says 'too much, too little, too late' like the song from the 80's, and now that I think about it, I think I'm going to go '86' these files and listen to some Motörhead just to heal my ears!
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