peter gabriel’s big blue ball (snicker) project has been in the works for some 15 years now. the long-awaited album is a collaborative effort between dozens of musicians working to create an amalgamation of sounds from all over the world, with gabriel contributing to four of the eleven songs featured. those tracks make this album sound more like a lost album of his than a collaborative work, which isn’t helped by gabriel’s trademark slick production styles (and perhaps this reflects more of my own biases toward how i think world music should sound) that tend to remove much of the music from any sort of context. simultaneously, the production helps make things more cohesive, and the album sounds really good given that one of the major setbacks of this project was the fact that many of the tapes were in a kind of “mess.“ given the 15 year gestation period for this album, it sounds surprisingly modern, and although not all the songs are winners, the juxtapositions of styles and cultures proves to be interesting and rewarding.
a good reason not to like remix albums. i’m all for artists collaborating and trying new things, but i don’t like being sold the same thing twice. most of the songs here are needlessly longer, and just repeat/reflect upon a single theme/idea the whole time. remixes of “REV 22:20″ and “the undertaker” are noticeably absent and rightly so, since the album versions on v is for vagina were remixes themselves. but seriously, do i really need an industrial version of “cuntry boner”?? no. sorry, troy van leeuwen. isn’t the whole essence of that song in it’s humor? the fact that the original had maynard singing a country tune is where most of the laughs come from and once you strip the song of its twang, it becomes boring and purposeless. i’m a bit conflicted though, because although these mixes are completely unnecessary, some do flesh out certain aspects of the songs that were lacking on the original. joey jordison of slipknot was one of the few remixers who really took the opportunity to contribute something unique and original to one of maynard’s tunes, adding his own silly rap on top of keenan’s on the “hungover and hostile in hannover mix” of “drunk with power;” while aaron turner spins “trekka” on its head, stripping it of its shuffle and distorting keenan’s gutteral calls to make the song sound even more twisted; and as usual, danny lohner’s contribution was a solid one, further cementing in my mind that v is for vagina should have been more of a collaboration between him and keenan. this album interesting to listen to, but not one that will warrant multiple listens.
i’ve been a bit slow to getting around to reviewing this record, or getting around to review any record for that matter, so rather than rehash what’s been said a million times already i thought i’d try something different/lazy and just cut/paste my feelings for the record with a little help from metacritic. i’ll try to not make this a habit.
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends [...] is the least Coldplay-sounding album in the band’s discography. – PopMatters
[It] isn’t a complete overhaul á la Achtung Baby or Kid A; just as they dull the sharp corners of their legendary influences musically, Coldplay offer a diluted version of the “experimental” mid-career maneuver with their fourth LP. It’s a case of well-honed troubleshooting that should keep the faithful conscious enough to appreciate its subtle improvements.- Pitchfork
this record is definitely being billed as “experimental,” but that term is very relative in this instance because “experimental” for coldplay means having an instrumental song at the beginning of their record. and yes, this makes the album sound very un-coldplay throughout, which is both a blessing and a curse. unlike the pitchfork review, i wouldn’t call coldplay’s change on viva la vida “subtle,” but it’s nice to hear that coldplay have shaken things up a bit and are at least a little interested in playing around in the grey area between art and pop, but they do so at the expense of being bland:
Part of their predicament is the production, which, as with almost any other mainstream rock band of the last 15 or so years, processes, auto-tunes, click-tracks, compresses and otherwise bleeds almost all personality out of the entire band’s sound. It could be literally anyone playing guitar, drums, bass or piano on this record, hence why I’ve not used any names other than Martin’s – the backing band are incidental. – Drowned in Sound
the band do shine at times, but there are no points at all during the album where i hear an instrument and immediately associate it to the person who is supposed to be playing it. that’s especially true for the rhythm section, who could’ve been replaced by session musicians at any point and i wouldn’t have been the wiser. coldplay are “experimental” here, but they’re also unrecognizable.
The first [major shift this record] is Martin’s voice, which is operating in a lower register; though romance has always been a big part of Coldplay’s music, sex has not. Yet in “Yes,” a trippy acoustic shuffle, Martin evinces real swagger as he laments a lover’s indecisive ways. – Spin
in that case, viva la vida could have been coldplay’s sexiest (which wouldn’t require a lot of boundaries being pushed for that to happen) because they had initially thought to include a collaboration they did with kylie minogue on the album, but dropped it from the final cut thinking it would be “too sexy.” i haven’t heard the song, but assuming that it isn’t a total travesty and maybe even resembles “where the wild roses grow” to some degree, i think that kind of sexiness is a well-needed shift for coldplay. maybe it would even have the same mind-blowing potential (in a “wow i didn’t see that one coming” kind of way) as thom yorke singing “I don’t want to be your friend/ I just want to be your lover” on “house of cards” from last year’s in rainbows. maybe, but the world doesn’t need another chris martin/thom yorke comparison, so i’ll stop there.
[...] their superstar status doesn’t take away from the fact that they still crank out some outright terrible songs on occasion, as evidenced here by tired dreck like “42” and “Violet Hill”. – PopMatters
‘42’ starts as a cod-profound piano-ballad with the god-awful lyric “those who are dead / are not dead / they’re just living in my head” and a none-more-‘Imagine’ piano fill before, after 90 seconds, drums and guitar tones that, in the context of a Coldplay record, sound a little edgy, drop in and cause a giant middle-eight-cum-chorus to swell up in support of the remarkably dumb line “you thought you might be a ghost / you didn’t get to heaven but you made it close”. – Drowned in Sound
those “edgy” bits that are mentioned do actually sound quite revelatory for coldplay, and i remember when i heard the song for the first time, it was quite exciting: the band sounded really angular and almost fierce– that is until the line “you thought you might be a ghost…”
Martin’s refined writing topics may be outpaced by the band’s guided adventure, but they’re both indicative that Coldplay are desperate to not just strive for the title of great band — a title they seem to believe that they’re to the manor born — but to actually burrow into the explorative work of creating music.- AMG
[U]nless Coldplay do produce something genuinely radical and creative they’re doomed to continue the combination of commercial success and critical indifference which seems to rile their singer even as it lines all of their pockets. – Drowned in Sound
Don’t get me wrong; to my ears, this is the group’s strongest offering yet, but since this album is the same old naive romanticism theatrically propped on a pedestal, it’s not really saying a lot. – Tiny Mix Tapes
(i prefer this original, viral version of the video to the official one thats on the music channels)
in a myspace post made two days ago, pet genius announced that they’ve called it quits. citing conflicting obligations, the post made it clear that the members of the band have future plans that do not include pet genius, although there is apparently an EP still in the works that should see the light of day sometime soon. it seems things have ended amicably and i would hope so, as the members have all been involved in other projects with one another in some shape or form before, which have also ended because of growing interests elsewhere (namely cave in and the octave museum). so as unfortunate as this news is, it seems more positive than anything else. they made an excellent album, toured a bit, had fun doing it and carried on naturally to do other things.
while mr. brodsky has already shown that his solo work is where his priorities are, it’ll be interesting to see what the other members of pet genius do with themselves. johnny “coolbreeze” northrop is also a member of another cave in offshoot, clouds, who have a record that just came out on tuesday. i’m willing to guess that’s where he’s headed, but he might have something else up his sleeve. we’ll see. as for jr, he’s a bit of a mystery. i know he’s the drummer for doomriders, but they seem to be inactive at the moment.
anyway, here are some videos of pet genius doing what they do best. they happen to be the only videos on youtube of pet genius playing pet genius material, so here you go:
according to idolator and numerous other credible internet sources, this site is claiming to have (had) their paws on nine songs from the upcoming guns n roses album chinese democracy. i would normally label this a hoax, but apparently people were actually able to hear the leak before it was taken down. most of the songs that were leaked have been heard before though, either during recent performances, or through previous lower quality leaks. this album has been a joke for so long– something that was never actually expected to come to fruition. but this past year alone, we’ve seen a lot of activity from the guns n roses camp, most notably axl’s response to the dr.pepper challenge. is chinese democracy’s release in our near future? will america get their free dr. peppers? or is this leak a stunt to get poor saps like me to generate more buzz about a band who should have either called it quits long ago, or changed their name to “axl rose and the revolving doors?”
even though i’ve never really been a fan of guns n roses outside a few songs from appetite for destruction, i think it’s interesting to see people so wrapped up about an album that’s been in the making for basically 17 years (give or take). here’s hoping it all sounds like “my world” from use your illusion.
[UPDATE] speaking of the fervour surrounding this album, this post alone has garnered my blog 46 hits in the past 18 hours, when i normally just get three or four people wandering by a day. thanks, guns n’ roses! i still don’t like your music, but maybe i’ll tag more of my posts with “guns n’ roses chinese democracy leak” to bolster traffic.
also, while i’m at it, there’s been no news as far as whether or not the leak was legitimate, or if other people were able to rip it before the streaming audio was taken down.
ice cream spiritual is a loud, wild, and energetic album, one that completely revels in its own reckless abandon. “beg waves” announces the band in a colourful and dizzying commotion, building on tribal thumps while singer/howler molly siegel “prrrrow”s and yelps away, channelling some gibberish language. despite all of this chaos, they’re clearly listening to one another and functioning as a band, not just as four people in a room with instruments (notthatthere’sanythingwrongwiththat), which is why this record is so good; the songs sound just as calculated and well-rehearsed as they do spontaneous and crazy. while comparisons to deerhoof have been drawn before, i can’t help but think that ponytail sound an awful lot like drum’s not dead-era liars, except these guys are much more prone to freak-out on a noisy corroded dime and have a blast doing it. throughout this record their stamina is both inspiring and exhausting, particularly on “small wevs,” where just as you think they’re done they manage to get a second wind and unleash everything they’ve got, accosting your ears once more. there’s nothing that quite sounds like what ponytail have managed to come up with here. highly recommended.
armed with a kazoo and electric guitar, stephen brodsky returns with another excellent addition to his rapidly growing catalogue. calling himself “stove bredsky” this time around, brodsky’s bizzare name change hints that this album is a bit of a departure from what he’s done before: it may sound like stephen brodsky, but it isn’t. there still are remnants of the lo-fi pop leanings of the octave museum, and the rumbling guitars from pet genius, but what’s most apparent this time is brodsky’s willingness to experiment. the instrumental “a swelling hope” is particularly representative of this openness to experimentation, humming along, grounded by brodsky’s acoustic guitar so that it doesn’t float away, all the while creating an overwhelming feeling of optimism; the song is truly uplifting. sometimes this adventurousness gets the better of him, however, and the record slumps in places as a result, robbing it of the exuberance that made stephen brodsky’s octave museum such a pleasure to listen to. the songwriting here is in top-form though, as the majority of the songs find a balance between being irreverent, witty, idiosyncratic and poignant, making the robert-pollard-comparisons all the more relevant while also showing that brodsky is fully capable of being a consistent songwriter in terms of both quality and quantity.
this is a weird album. while the dub and reggae influenced Z hinted at the changes to come on evil urges, nothing could really prepare me for the first three songs. “evil urges” starts things off sounding like the bastard child of radiohead’s “subterranian homesick alien” and lenny kravitz’s “it ain’t over til it’s over.” confused? good. “touch me i’m going to scream part 1″ follows, and although it isn’t much of a departure for mmj, it relies a bit more on keyboards for atmosphere than prior efforts have. “highly suspicious” is … probably going to be the most polarizing song from evil urges, given that it sounds like prince with backup vocal contributions from the monsters of sesame street. couple that with some maniacal laughing and a killer thematic solo at the end and you’ve got a pretty good idea of how the song sounds. as bad as that may seem, it works.
this new side of mmj would be great if it wasn’t completely abandoned for the rest of the record. from “i’m amazed” onward, they revisit familiar territory– albeit in interesting ways– choosing to explore their more quiet side rather than develop the funkier, soulful side they just teased you with. consequently jim james’ kermit-the-frog-like warble is noticeably toned down here, as he employs a more reserved delivery that works especially well on “librarian,” one of the best songs of the album. still, the consistency of the rest of the album is a riddle to me: three strange tracks of varying styles and influences, followed by eleven other tracks which all seem to paint from the same palette and are fairly consistent with what mmj have done prior.
it might be a cop-out for me to suggest that perhaps this album is a “grower.” much of this sentiment stems from the fact that i can’t really wrap my head around evil urges at this point. so much so that i find myself coming back for repeated listens because i’m confused; it’s very interesting to me, i’m just not sure if that interest translates into enjoyment or even longevity in my record collection. i don’t dislike it, but i think that its lack of cohesion musically weakens its ability to speak to me, especially when compared to their last record. while their innumerable influences came together on Z rather seamlessly, evil urges is a bit more obvious and as good and challenging as some of its songs might be, the record is awkward and suffers from poor sequencing (at the very least).
a lot of the reviews of this record seem to be hung up on the fact that laura marling isonly18 (!). it’s almost as though critics are in disbelief that an 18 year old is capable of writing such beautiful music or singing with such eloquence. keep in mind that at marling’s age, franz schubert had already written nearly 200 songs and keith moon had established himself as one of the best drummers in rock n roll. so to say that it’s surprising that an 18 year old came up with such a record is a compliment, yes, but it also undermines the fact that this record stands up on its own and is not simply “good for her age.”
the songs on alas are delicate but not “twee” by any means. marling’s voice sounds confident and determined while being supported throughout the record by the gentle strumming of her acoustic guitar. there are other instruments employed, but they serve primarily as a backdrop to flesh out what’s already there. the only song where the extra instrumentation comes to the forefront is “cross your fingers,” which stands out among the sparse folk arrangements as it tends to stray into “adult contemporary” territory, with clean electric guitar, glockenspiel, strings and back-up “oooohs” accompanying marling. although this full sound makes for a nice change, it’s rather unnecessary as it muddles the real strengths of her songwriting: her excellent attention to rhythm and melody. aside from that one misstep, the melodies on alas constantly connect, particularly on “my manic and i.” this debut LP is a stunning album that succeeds because of marling’s ability to craft intelligent and honest songs, not because of her age.
while shearwater continue to demonstrate their great proficiency in oscillating between bittersweet, reflective folk tunes and dissonant hard-rockers, their contrast between quiet and loud does not weaken the consistency of this album, nor does it come off as cliché. each song finds a way to trump the listener’s expectations; whether it’s the backwards piano on “rooks” or the piercing “south col,” rook is an unpredictable and volatile record. much of this volatility is due to the production of the album, which surprisingly marks lead shearwater jonathan meiburg’s first time behind the knobs. the album opens quietly with “on the death of the waters” and it eventually swells into a loud, crashing, wonderful mess. much of the songs that follow are more subdued, but before the album starts to lull, meiburg counters with “century eyes” an intense, electric-guitar-driven romp that opts for urgency rather than intimacy. meiburg took time off from sister band okkervil river earlier this year to devote more of his time to shearwater, and his focus on this project has clearly garnered another great record, one that embraces experimentalism and understands how important it is to confront the listener.
