First Impressions #4

it’s been awhile since i’ve done one of these. now seems like the time, what with the whack of new tunes that have come out in the past week.

u2 – “get on your boots”

(if the vid link is dead, you can stream the song here)

the release of u2’s single “get on your boots” was well timed to say the least, coinciding with the band’s performance in washington for president barack obama. funky, silly and irreverent, “boots” offers up a side of u2 that we haven’t seen awhile, and really isn’t what i expected from them. the song’s ties to the newly-christened president are also significant because many-a-rock-critic have already begun drawing connections between the more “optimistic” sounds of late 2008 and early 2009, and obama’s rise to power. while i for one am not ready to jump on that boat just yet, i can’t deny that this song sounds much more carefree than the u2 of 2004— especially when bono sings the refrain “i don’t want to talk about wars between nations“…

it’s not just bono’s lyrics that make this song work though— the real stars here are the rhythm section, as the edge bores us with a rubbery, audioslavish riff (wholenote, wholenote, wholenote), leaving larry mullen jr. and adam clayton to take the lead, propelling us along with their supporting baseline and rolling drum beat— making this single an interesting taste of what’s to come from no line on the horizion.

gorillaz – “broken”

sounds like your standard gorillaz track here, but just a bit slower in tempo, which means that the dark and foreboding nature of demon days hasn’t dissipated quite yet. this is just a demo though, and might not be representative of what we’ll be hearing on the next gorillaz album. still, the sustained notes of albarn’s keys remind me of the more sullen moments from that last record, something along the same lines as “el mañana” or “don’t get lost in heaven.” not everybody’s making happy music these days.

handsome furs – “i’m confused”

i’ve always thought that dan boeckner’s voice sounded like beck’s, and this song does little to dispel that notion. although, with the cheesy handclaps and synth lines from his wife and bandmate alexei perry, the music of “i’m confused” sounds a lot less like any beck song i’ve heard and more along the lines of “i’ve got my mind set on you” (thanks alaina). boeckner even goes so far as to sing: “my mind was set on you.” should we be expecting a video for this single that takes place inside a very animated house? i can only hope.

Filed under: First Impressions , 2009, u2, get on your boots, obama, gorillaz, broken, demo, handsome furs, face control, i'm confused

First Impressions #3

well, it’s been awhile since i’ve done one of these… i’m going to try something different here by posting youtube videos of the songs in question rather than mp3s. this should work so long as the videos stay up…

chris cornell feat. timbaland – “scream”

well, where to begin? initially, the idea of this duo working together seemed quite promising, but after having heard two of the songs from the upcoming album scream, i think it’s fair to say that this record will be a disappointment (not that it still won’t be a vast improvement over cornell’s second solo release, carry on).

i had the utmost faith that timbaland’s production abilities would be able to do something interesting for cornell, who has always not-so-secretly wanted to be a r&b/soul singer in the first place. just listen to temple of the dog’s song from 1991, “all night thing:”

(ignore the shitty karaoke-ness to this video. i’m just posting it so you can hear the song)

i had tonnes of faith in timbaland because i respected him, despite the recent trend of disliking him simply because of the ubiquity of his beats in the r&b world. i’ll admit that he really does whore himself around a bit much, but if he could get chris cornell his “sexyback,” then all the more power to him. as for cornell, after his last record, i had far less faith in him to produce something worthwhile. i had come to the conclusion after carry on that cornell and many of his seattle contemporaries (mainly pearl jam and alice in chains) were simply cock-rock bands who smartened up a bit towards the end of the 80s and started to make music that wasn’t as superficial. the real “seattle-sound” was based around the individuals who actually had a sound that could be traced back to earlier seattle bands like the sonics (pearl jam’s mike mccready is an exception, as he is thoroughly indebted to jimi hendrix)… but i digress.

the issue i have with this song is that the performances are lacklustre. i was hoping for some gritty, grating keyboards (ala “sexyback”), but instead got some soaring synths that don’t lead anywhere. cornell’s vocals sound like what i’ve come to expect from him since his later days in audioslave, but for a song called “scream,” you’d at least expect him to break from his jaw-wired-shut-mumble. nope. the lyrics don’t help much either, as they’re trite and completely uninspired. while “black hole sun” was cornell’s writing at its most mediocre, the airplay it has gotten in the following years has certainly been well-deserved compared to these flimsy lines: “heeeeey/ why keep screamin’ at the top o’ your heaaad?” jesus christ. the number of times he says “head” and “brain” in this song makes it a little more tolerable for hilarity’s sake, but only a little bit.

what’s most confusing about the song is its length. assuming they want this to be played like the dickens on top 40 radio, why do they then proceed to ride that terrible chorus for an intolerable six minutes? i really don’t get it.

the killers – “human”

brandon flowers’ lyrics are so awful that it’s becoming offensive. now i realize that lyrics aren’t the sole characteristic of a song, and i certainly don’t hide the fact that i pay very little attention to lyrics at all when i listen to music, but time and time again the killers have posited themselves as band whose lyrics are important, and yet the lyrics here are so jarringly bad that i can’t help but draw attention to them. i think the debate as to whether he’s saying “dancer” or “denser” is awesomely hilarious. whether it’s one or the other is irrelevant. either way, it’s a weak lyric to base an entire song around.

as far as the music is concerned, it sounds alright, although it seems the killers are going through their “ray of light” period a little early if you ask me. if i were to hear just the instrumental, i’d be hard-pressed to tell you that what i was hearing was in fact the killers, which is both a good and bad thing: good insofar as they’re obviously feeling creative and are now headed in a “new direction,” although as we’ve seen in their career so far, these “directions” seem to last as long as the albums they’re needed for. which leads me to the bad: we all know that this aesthetic is tacked-on, and i can’t help but feel as though this is just a kind of genre tourism that’s meaningless so long as flowers can pretend to be an introspective frontman. “growth” and “new directions” are words meant for press releases and the stickers that some underpaid person puts on the CD cover before it hits stores, and have no real relevance outside of the glow of commerce. furthermore, i can barely hear the rest of the band what with flowers’ keyboard being so loud and sparkly. how am i supposed to know that the other-dude-with-the-shitty-fucking-facial-hair was even present in the studio while this took place? do they play their instruments? i need proof.

i will point out that what’s nice about this song is flowers’ earnest and affecting delivery. usually he sounds like he’s falling asleep or in some sort of unecessary pain (or both) so to hear him emote and not sound overwrought is great.

so that’s that. thanks to idolator for breaking the news of these songs coming out.

Filed under: First Impressions , audioslave, awful music, brandon flowers, chris cornell, human, pearl jam, soundgarden, the killers, timbaland

First Impressions #2

autolux – “audience no. 2“

when i found out that autolux had recently released a new single from their upcoming album transit transit, i was pretty ecstatic. i’ve been following their career since demonstration and am quite fond of their music, despite there being so little of it. this song is not as my-bloody-valentine-inspired as their previous material has been, and sounds more akin to the work that they did with UNKLE on war stories. noise is still a prominent factor in this song, but it’s more atmospheric, underpinning the thunderous bass-line. carla azar’s drumming is still as fantastic as ever, creating rhythms that are subtle but still well-defined and unique. i think greg edwards sings this number, but it’s hard to tell. it is nice to hear the vocals higher in the mix though, they’re much more discernible on this song than they were on future perfect. hopefully this shift in sonics will make it much more difficult for journalists to give the band the horrid label of “newgaze.”

jaguar love – “bats over the pacific ocean“

it seemed that as soon as the blood brothers broke up, the two bands that rose from it’s ashes were in a competition, albeit a friendly one, to release new material. jaguar love have wasted no time in putting their material to tape or um… hard disk, as they are releasing their debut EP through matador in early june, and also have plans to release a full album in august. technically they’ve had a bit of a head-start over ex-blood brothers past lives, since they formed prior to the actual break-up of the band and have also had time to cut their chops on the road, having opened for queens of the stone age late last year.

it’s no surprise then that on “bats over the pacific ocean,” jaguar love sounds tight and comfortable. the song is well-crafted and brimming with intensity, although not quite the same brand of intensity fans of the blood brothers are used to. johnny whitney’s ever-recognizable vocals are present here, but what’s significantly different about this song is how much the rhythm section sounds like they’re from spoon, not some post-hardcore outfit. opting for an acoustic guitar and piano, jaguar love set themselves apart from their previous projects with a more mature sound while simultaneously concocting a different kind of urgency that works just as effectively.

busdriver – “ellen disingenuous“

released as a single to tide people over between albums (this track may or may not make the final cut), busdriver returns at lightspeed with “ellen disingenuous,” delivering his rhymes much faster than anything on roadkillovercoat. his beats are fast too, but even they sound as though they struggle to keep up with him. “ellen” is a whirlwind of a song, incessant until the chorus arrives, which helps to remind us that not only can busdriver rap fast, but he also writes great hooks. if you’ve heard “kill your employer,” you know what i’m talking about. smart, fresh and playful, “ellen disingenuous” is a solid single and exciting window into the album-making process.

beck – “chemtrails” (apologies for the poor quality mp3… i ripped it myself straight from beck’s website. this one at least sounds better than the myspace rip floating around)

slow and sleepy, “chemtrails” recalls the songs from the nigel godrich-produced sea change, which seems somewhat odd since the soon-to-be-released modern guilt is produced by danger mouse, whose production style bears little resemblance to godrich’s lush and dense approach. you’d think that since this is the first time that beck has worked with someone who wasn’t godrich or the dust brothers since 1996, his decision would be based on that person’s ability to bring something different to the table. perhaps this consistency should be attributed more to beck himself and not the producer. either way, beck’s voice sounds distant over the droning organs, and groovy drum and bass backbone. frankly, the drum and bass parts sound more interesting than what beck is actually singing or how he’s singing it. don’t get me wrong, this song won’t dissuade me from checking out the album, but it’s certainly not beck’s best either. why release this song as a first single/teaser? i’m sure more people are interested in hearing the supposed collaboration between mr. hansen and chan marshall than this boring psychedelia.

Filed under: First Impressions , 2008, audience no. 2, autolux, bats over the pacific ocean, beck, busdriver, chemtrails, danger mouse, ellen disingenuous, jaguar love, modern guilt, past lives, transit transit

First Impressions

nine inch nails – “discipline“

“discipline” was released just last week with another cryptic “two weeks” message on NIN.com. some of you may remember that the last time “two weeks” was posted on NIN.com, ghosts i-iv was released. could there be another album in the pipeline? already? we’ll find out on monday. if it is an album or even an EP of new material, i’d be shocked (some are saying that the cover art for “discipline” suggests at least four other songs). that would mean that it has only been a year and a half since trent’s last full length of original material (year zero) and a month since his last release period (ghosts). is this what we can expect from NIN in the future? no more 5-6 year waits for albums? now if only someone could introduce this novel method of album-making to tool…

as far as the song itself is concerned, it’s basically what one should come to expect from NIN at this point, but just a bit more poppy. there aren’t any guitars that i can hear… the instrumentation just consists of synth, piano, bass, live drums and vocals. it sounds more like the material from with teeth than it does the material from year zero, an album which trent approached with the idea that noise somehow equates novelty. the drum beat here is a little unimaginative– that hi-hat gets annoying pretty quickly. i suppose it’s better than stale drum machines though. i’m glad trent is embracing his poppiness, despite the bemoaning of all the other NINcompoops. i find he’s most honest with himself when he’s just straight-up pop, without the pretence of some high, overarching concept. his best songs have always been his most poppy, so i think he should stop trying to mask it with noise, strings, or other things that just weigh his songs down. this isn’t his best, but i’m interested in seeing where it leads.

coldplay – “violet hill“

this song gives me the impression that for their new record… whatever it’s called…coldplay have toned down the synth approach from x&y and have opted instead for more angular guitars. the guitars certainly do have a more significant presence on this song than they have had on a lot of other coldplay numbers, but like their past experimentations with synthesizers, this guitar approach seems rather tacked-on, and not a genuine or significant change, because eventually “all you’re hearing is chris and the piano.” i never thought i’d be accusing chris & co. of lacking in the earnestness dept, but here i am. despite all this, i’m intrigued by how short the song is, and the slow shuffle of the verses brought on by berryman and champion.

Filed under: First Impressions , 2008, coldplay, discipline, NIN, nine inch nails, singles, violet hill, viva la vida or death and all his friends, with teeth, x&y