"It's a new age letdown in my face"

Beck Hanson is a musical genius. And I don't use the term lightly. Beck continues to amaze me, no matter how many times I listen to his stuff. Too many people heard his first album and got a chuckle out of it. I think that "Mellow Gold" was a little too clever for it's own good. A couple of albums down the road he really hit a groove and let loose...

He has a knack for nonsensical lyrics that just work. His sense of rhythm inside of words is impressive. The moods he sets in songs are crystal clear, just listen to the above quoted, "Nitemare Hippy Girl," or perhaps "Truckdriven' Neighbors Downstairs" to get an idea. His albums also tend to be sonic wonderlands, put them on a good system and a whole new world opens up. he is just as conscious of how sound impacts the experience as he is with the music.

More than anything else though, it is his feel for different types of music that amazes me. Beck covers a lot of musical ground in his songs. This was really brought out for me when I heard his duet with Emmy Lou Harris on the Gram Parsons tribute album (Return of the Grievous Angel). Their version of "Sin City" is straight up, old school country. On his albums, he is able to use different types of popular songs to amazing effect. Yes, there is the general slacker rock vibe, but he borrows from a lot of other genres as well. Sometimes it's to be ironic, but more often he uses samples to blend and synthesize with what he's doing. It's an amazing thing, we hear the new synthesis, but we remember the original at the same time. Most people use samples and snippets as just another noise or an ironic counterpoint, Beck is different.

"Rental Car" off of Guerro is a great example. He manages to combine that early 70's vibe (which I wrote about here), a driving, fuzzed out guitar riff reminiscent of the grunge era, and a yodel inspired "LALALA" interlude. That lala bit is especially impressive because he uses all three. I can hear and identify all of them, but they come together in a decidedly "go-go" vibe. It's an eclectic masterpiece, it's what he does...



And to get a feel for his lyrical talent listen to this. It reminds me more than a little of some girls I met up in Ithaca...

Great moments in songs

There are a bunch of songs that have moments in them that make the whole thing worthwhile. It's one of those moments where you say, "Doh!" and just flat out enjoy it. This is different than the whole song being great, I'm talking about a moment "making" the song.

The first one I can remember is in "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells (although Joan Jett's version is pretty good too). I think the line "Yeah, I'm not such a sweet thing," is one of the greatest moments in rock and roll. Another is the somewhat more drawn out,
"And that villains always blink their eyes, woo!
And that, yknow, children are the only ones who blush!
And that, life is just to die!"
from Sweet jane.

A less well known moment comes from a group called the Detroit Cobras. BTW, that may be the best name of a rock band of all time... What I've heard of them so far is pretty impressive. There's a soul sound, old school rock, a little riot girrrl attitude, and general kick ass in there. Anyway, in "Bad Girl," we get a two-fer. First, we get this ennui filled stanza:

"But I said no
I must go
I'm not the one you want though I know you think so
'Cause I'm a bad girl,"

That's pretty good, but then Rachel Nagy follows it up with this:
"I'm a bad girl,
But I'm too good for you"

Wow... I have half a mind to put that short bit of the song on a loop and listen to it 17 times or so... Once again, it isn't just the words, it's how they're delivered and how they're presented in the song. Look for their stuff, it's worth listening to.

"I'm Sorry but it's True..."

The title of this post comes from a song that could best be described as a guilty pleasure. I heard it on the radio on the way over and it prompted this post. Like I mentioned before, I tend to lump bands into like or don't like categories. Usually, if a band is in my "don't like" group it's a death sentence for all of their songs. Groups like Fleetwood Mac, Boston, REO Speedwagon, and Air Supply all fit this category. Yeah, you might hear me hum "Go Your Own Way" once in a while... I'll admit it's catchy, but it doesn't mean I like it!

There are some groups that escape my total hatred, I just mostly hate them. I still lump them into my "don't like" group, but I'm willing to admit they had at least one good song in them. Here's a list of songs I like from groups I don't:

"Do Ya" by ELO
"Bringing on the Heartache" by Def Leopard
"My Old School" by Steely Dan
"Still the Same" by Bob Seegar
"Peter Piper" by Run DMC
"Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance
"The First Cut is the Deepest" by Cat Stevens
"Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

and there's more... What are some of your guilty pleasures?

"Why don't you like the Lovin' Spoonful?"

That's what my mother asked me the other day. It's true, my first reaction to the group is a bad one. I tried to come up with a reason, and the best thing I could come up with is "autoharp." I think that's a decent enough reason, but it didn't sway my mother.

I find it's always easier to say why I like something as opposed to why I dislike something. Usually, my dislike is a general one, making the object of my hatred irredeemable. Maybe that's intentional, if there was just one thing I didn't like, it could be fixed... I also notice that I tend to dislike groups and artists and then I generalize down to individual songs. While I don't claim to like the Lovin' Spoonful, "Summer in the CIty" is actually a decent song. Unfortunetly for them (and apearently my mother), the first thing that pops into my head when I hear the name of that group is "Do You Believe in Magic" which never fails to induce my gag reflex...

I wonder if part of my dislike is based on the fact that she does like it. Do not underestimate the power of generational differences... It's only natural to dismiss at least some of the things that are important to the previous generation. Of course this theory breaks down because I don't hate all of the music she likes.

So mom, I guess I don't know. I doubt I'll be losing any sleep over this though:-)

More odd choices for commercials

What is it with ad agencies and odd/inappropriate songs for their ads? I've talked about "Every Day is Like Sunday" for the NFL network before, but there are a couple of new ones making the rounds...

A car company (Lincoln?) is using a cover of "Space Oddity" by Bowie in it's commercial. Huh? Yeah, they lead up to the line "... you've really made the grade..." but they conveniently leave out the critique of that "success" by not asking "...and the papers want to know whose shirts you wear..." Oh, and of course the elephant in the commercial is the obvious drug content. The protagonist, Major Tom, goes up in a spaceship, is amazed, and never comes back. The song is transparently about drug use. Bowie himself sums up the song (his first hit) in his later song, "Ashes to Ashes"

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know major toms a junkie
Strung out in heavens high
Hitting an all-time low

The other ad that jumped out at me is an HP one using Joan Jett's ode to horniness "Do ya want to touch me?" The commercial is touting the new touch screen computer, the song is about getting to third base. The images show a finger(!) doing all sorts of things on the display. In the meantime, the song is giving this message"

"Do you wanna touch (Yeah)
Do you wanna touch (Yeah)
Do you wanna touch me there, where?
Do you wanna touch (Yeah)
Do you wanna touch (Yeah)
Do you wanna touch me there? Where?
There? Yeah!

YEAH, OH YEAH, OH YEAH"

Don't get me wrong, I love the song, it even brings up happy memories (ahem), but it does seem a little inappropriate to me. I have a feeling that the people at HP are trying to be "edgy." I dunno, it seems a bit much to me...

WCWM

I made a quick note about this station before, now I've listened to it some more and I'm even more impressed. The range of music they play is impressive. I've heard everything from Daft Punk to Stereolab to Dion (!) to a lot of stuff I've never heard before. It looks like each of the DJs have the ability to play what they want, their schedule has music from across the spectrum. You can also listen online! I'm doing that at home since the signal is so weak... What a combo, college radio and the internet! These are good times to be a music fan.

PS:

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the station that changed my music listening habits, WICB from Ithaca College. I went there from 89-94 and soaked up a lot of music from that station. They're still there of course, they've been there forever. It is also the classic college radio rock station. They don't have as many different programs as WCWM does, but they make up for it with an enormous catalog of college rock to play. They broadcast 24 hours a day if I'm not mistaken... Also, since it's being broadcast out of the Park School of Communications, the DJs aren't bad at all. That should be expected since it's mostly radio/TV majors manning it. Listen here.

Sinead

I've always been a big fan of Sinead O'connor. Ever since she released "The Lion and the Cobra" back in '88, I've been hooked. She had the most powerful voice I've ever heard in a pop singer. Seriously, when she opened wide, something strong was going to come out of it. I can't imagine being her son, how would you like to be yelled at by someone with a voice like that?:-) Something that added to her power was her unusual lack of vibrato, when she held notes, they just stayed there.

But a strong voice doesn't make you a great singer, just look at Linda Ronstadt if you don't believe me. Sure, she had a voice, but the songs were vapid and there was zero soul. Those things were never a problem for Sinead. She was often very personal, and you could tell that she felt them deeply. Every note of hers is invested with something. Her first big hit was Prince's "Nothing compares 2 U." The video is even more intense than her singing. It's just that beautiful face of hers, and of course the tears...

Sinead OConnor Nothing Compares To You @ Yahoo! Video

It isn't just her voice, I've rarely seen a singer as expressive with her face and body motions. She put damn near everything into her songs, and you can hear it and see it. The music seems to posses her, to move her around so it can get out. The videos I've seen of her singing "Mandinka" show her twisting and gyrating when she comes to the chorus. It's as if those words have a certain motion associated with them...

One of her most gripping songs is also probably the best hurt/angry songs of all time. It still manages to get tears from me when I listen to it. It's called "Troy" and was on her first album. Oddly enough, the credit for mixer on that album was given to T. Roy... Here's a live version that shows her expressiveness and her ability to sing live.



ANother interesting thing about her is the range of music she has performed. Everything from Irish folk to intense rock, to big band to reggae, she's done it all. All of it ends up being her version, it doesn't really remind you of anyone else.

Alas, time has not been kind to her pipes. Her top end doesn't seem to be there anymore, and she doesn't have that explosiveness at her disposal anymore. I think she's working within her limitations though, and still making interesting music. You haven't lived till you've heard reggae with an Irish accent :-) You keep going on with your bad self Sinead, hair or no hair, I'll always love you!!

Early memories...

The first non-kids song I remember being able to recognize was "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" off of Abbey Road. It has kind of a sing-song quality to it, no wonder I latched onto that so early. The first song that I remember recognizing on the radio was "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot. I'm not really a big fan of that song, I wonder why I would have noticed that.. Gordon's best song has to be "Sundown," it's a classic early 70's song.

There's a certain sound that the early 70's had. Or to be more precise, there was a sound that could only have "made it" in the early 70's. I'm thinking of "Sundown," "Stuck in the Middle" by Steelers Wheel, and anything off of "Tapestry" by Carol King. This was before disco, before art rock hit it's stride, and before the identifiable genera of Arena Rock came around. There's something special to that sound. I'm not always in the mood for it, but I do think that it was a good time in music.

Went back to my hi end store today

I'm back up in Northern Virginia again. I'm seeing people and frequenting the haunts I used to hang out in. One of those haunts is a high end audio store called Deja Vu audio. It's a cleverly worded name. The owners name is Vu, and he specializes in vacuum tube equipment and turntables. He has the most exotic equipment I've ever heard or seen there. I've seen Avantgaurd horns there, all sorts of electrostatics, custom built horn monstrosities, etc. I hadn't been there in years, so I thought I'd pop in.

He's got a new location, it's a little bigger and nicer than the last place. The exotic stuff was mostly involving large, vintage speaker systems in custom enclosures. Right now he also has a pair of Gaku-an amplifiers hand built by Kondo-san himself. This series is famous in tube audio circles and are generally considered to be the height of both audio accomplishment as well as audio craft. He had wound his own silver capacitors!!! The set comes in at a cool $250,000 for the pair... I didn't listen to them while I was there, but I might have to make another trip back...

Anyway, he remembered me right off even though I hadn't seen him for 4 or 5 years. It helps that he almost got me arrested once. He locked me in the store and left. I ended up setting off the alarm system and being questioned by the police... Anyway, it was fun to sit and listen to real audio again. AHHHHHHHHHH.... You can tell it's a real audio place because he has more music than equipment. And that's saying something, there are amps, preamps, turntables, and tubes crammed in every nook and cranny. Everything else is covered with LPs (yes... remember them?) and Cds. Check out the display in his entryway!

His shop is worth a visit if you're interested in the highest of the high end of musical reproduction. You won't find typical hi-fi there. I'll probably go back in a day or so...

iPods

I've been using my mother's iPod off and on for a couple of weeks. I had always assumed that I wanted one, and I had always assumed that I would want one big enough to keep my entire library on it. I'm not so sure now. I find it odd to be carrying around something of this size and weight. Even around the house, it seems really strange and awkward. This may be blasphemy, but I really do not like the navigation system, I keep overshooting the thing I want with the wheel. I also don't like wearing headphones while I walk around. That's a strike against portable players in general I guess...

So I still might want one for the car. It would just sit there and with the right deck, I could control it from the controls on the stereo. There's just one thing, I don't think the iPod sounds very good. Music sounds much better from my computer with the same headphones. I know, this isn't supposed to be a piece of hi-fi equipment, but still... Maybe it would be fine in the car, but it really doesn't cut it for me on headphones. Hmmm, I wonder if the smaller ones sound any better... The smaller ones are light enough to be useful when carrying them around.

I probably won't get an iPod. I've held off this long, and now that I'm actually using one, I don't really like it all that much. When I get a phone, I'll make sure I can use it to play music and that'll probably be good enough for portable use. I'll worry about the car when I get one...

Worship and praise

There are a couple of "worship and praise" stations on the FM band around here. I've been wondering why I dislike them so much. I mean, I should like them, I believe in a lot of what they sing about, but still, they're annoying. My usual quip was that even the most hardcore, satanic heavy metal group would only have a song or two about Satan on each album, why can't the Christian groups sing about something else?

With a little more thought, the reason why they are so annoying seems obvious. They're too nice. There's nothing wrong with nice songs, there's nothing wrong with singing about how great God/Jesus is. But when you have a whole station that plays nothing but that all day long, it changes things.

If you listen to the station for any amount of time, you could get the idea that living a Christian life is all sunshine and lollipops. Everything is so nice, so happy, so peaceful. Unless you are incredibly shallow (don't get me started), living a life of faith is not a bucketful of puppies. Seriously, how can you listen to those stations after you got fired, your dog died, your mom died, or any other thing that happens to everyone from time to time? Those are the times when you are angry and hurt, being reminded that Jesus is the hope and the beauty just isn't going to cut it.

I've been asked why I like songs about "bad" stuff so much. I guess it's because they sound much more human to me. Humans are imperfect, we screw up and have strong emotions. That's the world we all live in. In theory, we will get to the world in the worship and praise songs, but sometimes that seems so far away. I'm a big believer in the idea that you have to stand in the dark if you want to see the light. Listening to songs about addiction, broken hearts, etc. remind me of the alternative. I'll take that any day over sweetness...

First Aid Kit

My friend Randy sent me this Youtube video a little while ago. I thought it was "nice," but I also thought they were just a little rough. I've grown more attached to it and now I think it's lovely.



They're a pair of Swedish teens, 15 and 17 I think. "First Aid Kit" is an odd name for a group, but there you go. The song is called "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" and was originally by the Fleet Foxes. It's not an easy song, I wouldn't think someone so young could do it so well. Maybe that works in their favor, if you're young enough you may not know how self-involved that song can be...

Anyway, Klara (the one with the guitar) has a really strong voice. You get the the feeling that she doesn't mind speaking her mind. Her temperament during singing and the quality of her voice reminds me of Sinead O'Connor (I keep meaning to do a blog post on her). I also think that she could do really well in Nashville, at times she flashes a little twang when she sings in English. Her sister, Johanna has a much softer voice. The two really harmonize well, the two voices combine to make a new, complex one. That reminds me of another pair of Swedish ladies that propelled their group to superstar status (ABBA anyone?).

Here's another song by them. This one's an original and I think it's probably one of the best songs I've heard written by teenagers. It's remarkable that they can be this mature and have this complete a vison of an idea at this age. It's called "Our Own Pretty Ways."



This is a different, live version than what is on their EP. The EP, entitled Drunken Trees, is much more polished, but I kind of like the electric organ. I also think they do a really good job harmonizing (despite the bad note at the end) live. Anyway, enjoy and I hope they tour the states! There's every reason to think that they'd sound fantastic...

UPDATE:

I was reading their myspace page and I got a kick out their influences, check it out:

Gary Numan


...and the rest:

Bright Eyes, Joanna Newsom, Vashti Bunyan, Cat Power, Fleet Foxes, Devendra Banhart, Karen Dalton, Judee Sill, The Carter Family, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Nick Drake, The Beach Boys, Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins, Neko Case, The Beatles, Elliott Smith, Laura Marling, The Delamore Brothers, Leonard Cohen, Antony and The Johnsons, T.Rex, Alela Diane, Gram Parsons, Neil Young, Simon Joyner, The Flying Burrito Brothers, America, Fever Ray, The Louvin Brothers, David Dondero, Ryan Adams, Cursive, Vetiver, The Vevlet Underground, Jon Brion, Yann Tiersen, Pixies, Lefty Fritzell, Billie Holliday, Bill Monroe & The Blugrass Boys, etc.

Gotta say, I don't hear too much Gary Nueman in there, but God love them for thinking of him :-)

College radio station!

I was surfing the radio "dial" (remember those?) the other day and came across a gen-ewe-wine college radio station. You can tell by not only the type of music they play, but by the incompetence of the DJs and their seeming lack of excitement. In any case, it was nice to come across a station that wasn't playing the top 40 dreck but still playing some new stuff. Much to my amazement, it was a lot of guitars, and a lot of noise. I have yet to hear any hip-hop anything on there. I thought rock was dead? Some of that lack may be due to the fact that this is a station out of William and Mary. It has a little more racial diversity than my alma mater Ithaca College (what college doesn't), but not much.

Anyway, I like listening to it when I can. It's pretty low power, so I never know when it'll be clear. It just adds to the thrill of the hunt... :-)