SOUNDTRACK: PUBLIC IMAGE LTD-“Poptones” and “Careering” on American Bandstand (1980).
The Dick Clark article below alerted me to this bizarre gem–PiL “playing” on American Bandstand. The article talks about John Lydon ignoring the lip synch, climbing into the audience and generally disregarding the show’s script. The video suggests something sightly less sinister (although maybe for 1980 it was outrageous–do you really cross Dick Clark?).
Dick Clark himself announces the band nicely, and then the crazy off-kilter bass and simple guitar of “Poptones” kick in. Lydon runs into the bleachers with the kids (most of whom are dressed in New Wave finery not unlike Lydon). They shriek with glee when he comes nearby (do any of them know who he is? I have no idea). When Lydon’s spoken rambling come in a little later you can’t help but wonder what the hell they are doing on AB.
Then, Lydon starts grabbing people from the audience and pushing them towards the stage–something I believe was unheard of on AB. The fans dance around to the impossible-to-dance-to “Poptones.” The song ends and Dick asks John if he wants the kids out there for song two. Yes, song Two! He does and John faux lip synchs through “Careering,” avoiding cameras at all costs and dancing with the kids–one of the most egalitarian performances I can think of from Lydon.
And listen for Dick asking Jah Wobble his name (reply THE Jah Wobble) and him saying, nice to meet you Wobble. What a surreal moment–wonder what Dick thought of it.
Enjoy it here:
[READ: December 28, 2012] Grantland 4
Grantland continues to impress me with these books (and no, I have not yet visited the website). My subscription ran out with this issue and I have resubscribed–although I take major issue with the $20 shipping and handling fee. I even wrote to them to complain and they wrote back saying that the books are heavy. Which is true, but not $5/bk heavy. The good news is that they sent me a $10 off coupon so the shipping is only half as painful now.
This issue’s endpages were “hypothetical baseball wheel-guides created by JASON OBERG–they were pretty cool and a fun idea. They look very retro, but use contemporary batters, pitchers and catchers. I’d like to see them for real.
Each issue makes me like sports a little bit more, but not enough to actually watch them.
SOUNDTRACK: RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS-“Magic Johnson” (1989).
Just before the Red Hot Chili Peppers totally took off and became stadium stars, they released Mother’s Milk. It was a commercialized realization of their three earlier more raw sounding funk rock records. It was one of my favorite records of the late 80s.
Since Flea is interviewed in this issue of Grantland, and since he’s still a fan of the Lakers, it seemed like a good time to mention this song.
It opens with some martial drums (from then new drummer Chad Smith) and band chanting about M A G I C. The lyrics are sung very quickly (I’m not even sure what they say half the time). About 80 seconds in some wild guitar work burst forth, but it’s largely a chanted song of bass and drums. There’ s a brief jam at the end where Flea shows off some great basswork and John Frusciante gets to do his thing again.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard it played anywhere (maybe at Lakers games?), so here’s a chance to hear it:
[READ: May 8, 2012] Grantland 3
One thing is for sure, Grantland loves it some basketball. Basketball is the most widely covered sport in the published Grantlands so far. (The first issue even looked like one). Since basketball is such a pop culture-referencing sport it actually works pretty well as a subject–with lots of different angles–especially given the state of the NBA lately. Some other things on the Grantland staff’s minds include–the dangers of football and inadequacy of helmets to protect kids and Tim frickin Tebow (still!). I don’t think an issue has past without talking about him yet. I realize that’s a function of the time of these publications but… ew!
Nevertheless, the writing remains exciting and interesting, even for a non-sports guy like me.
For reasons unclear to me now, I wasn’t psyched when I heard about this band. Despite the fact that it was 2/3 of Sleater-Kinney and the force behind Helium joining together, I didn’t jump for joy. But now that I have listened to the album a million times, I can say that it is one of the best albums not only of that year, but of many years. Man is it good.
Sleater-Kinney was a great band, they were melodic and tuneful but also abrasive and occasionally off-putting. Who knew that the majority of the adhesiveness came from Corinne Tucker (well, she was the screamer, admittedly). It’s pretty clear that Carrie Brownstein is bringing a ton of melody (and a wee bit of amativeness) to the mix. Mary Timony always included trippy imagery and a weird kind of whispered/loud singing voice. The tunes are so catchy so strong, so singalongable.
There’s little moments in each song that are amazing. The backing vocals (and the pitch shift in the chorus) in “Romance”. The way “Something Came Over Me” sounds so different from “Romance” (and is clearly a Timony-sung song). I absolutely love the guitar “solo” that begins each verse and how it stands out but fits in so nicely as a baritone guitar sound (I assume from Carrie?) “Boom” is just a full-on rocker with some great guitar pyrotechnics and Carrie’s more extreme vocals. And man is it catchy.
“Glass Tambourine” is a cool trippy psychedelic workout that’s still catchy and interesting. “Endless Talk” has a strange British retro vibe. (Carrie seems to be singing with a kind of punk British voice). And there’s lot of keyboards. It’s great that the album has so many different sounds, but still sounds cohesive. “Short Version” has some great guitar soloing in the front and back. “Electric Band” is like a perfect pop song–great backing vocals, great poppy solos and a cool video to boot. “Future Crimes” is another amazing tune, with a keyboard solo!
“Racehorse” is probably my least favorite song on the disc. It’s got some cool parts and some interesting swagger (and I like the live versions where they really jam) but the album version feels a little dragged out (although the chorus is really hot). The disc ends with the wonderful “Black Tiles” which could easily be a Helium song, but which still sounds very Wild Flag.
And, I can’t say it enough, Janet Weiss is amazing on drums. I feel badly because I tend to leave out the keyboardist–because I don’t know who she is or the band that she came from. But her keyboards play an essential role in the music. They fill out the spaces that the two guitars don;t always fill. They even introduce the opening of the album.
If you go back through previous posts you’ll see I’ve mentioned them 3 times already because they have special bond with NPR and three of their concerts are available there. I can’t wait for more from them.
[READ: May 8, 2012] Grantland 2
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Grantland #1. So I was pretty excited to get Grantland #2. #2 has all of the elements that I loved about #1–non-sports articles about entertainment (video games, music, TV), and sports articles that are short and digestible for a non-sports fan. This issue also features a number of really long articles about basketball. I like basketball fine, but I can’t say I paid any attention to the lockout. Thus, much of this was lost on me. It probably doesn’t help that I don’t know any sports people either.
I may have said this last time, but I will reiterate for Issue #3–for those of us who don’t follow sports, or those of us who may not remember back to September when most of these articles were written, or heck, for people who are going to read this in ten years’ time: For certain articles, can you give us an epilogue about what happened after the article was written. If you speculate about the lockout. Have an epilogue to say about how the lockout turned out. If you talk about a game 5 of a series and the series didn’t end, have an epilogue that tells us how the series ended. It doesn’t have to even fit the style of the article, just a few words: so and so ended like this. It can show how prescient the writers were. And it can help us complete the stories.
So, despite a few articles that I thought were too long, (although probably aren’t if you love basketball) I really enjoyed this issue of Grantland, too. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: TIMES NEW ROMAN-“Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).
This is the final song from Score! It’s a cover by Times New Viking (nice name) of The Arcade Fire’s “Neighborhood #1” from Funeral.
I loved Funeral when it came out and I’m still quite fond of it. The Times New Viking cover is pretty faithful to the original (the vocals are really close, in fact). But the cover sounds like it was recorded on a transistor radio. The original isn’t a bass-thumping heavy song, but the cover is so tinny and fragile, it seems to get lost in itself. It also sounds something like a demo. Neither of these are bad in and of itself, but the final version is so full, that this doesn’t really add anything new to the song.
But it did get me to listen to the original again, so that’s good.
[READ: May 6, 2012] “Reunion”
I have just finished Grantland #2 and I wanted to mention this story alone because for the most part the “magazine” (or whatever it is) doesn’t have fiction in it.
I was a little concerned when it first started that it was going to be very baseball-heavy, because the main character and the friend he reconnects with were pitcher and catcher when they were younger. But I was pleased that the story used their baseball past as a framework to establish their closeness and synchronicity, not as the end of the story itself.
It was also funny to read a story in which people get caught up via Facebook. It may be the first fiction I’ve read where such an emphasis is placed on Facebook as a reuniting medium—with the protagonist being unsure about it at first and then deciding it was a pretty cool thing (very true for many of us). Indeed, the quote “How many high school reunions had Facebook ruined…” is quite apt. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: KANYE WEST-My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010).
Before buying this album I really only knew of Kanye West as a loudmouthed guy who tweeted a lot and told off George Bush. But then everyone was raving about this album (Pitchfork gave it a 10 out of 10!). So I decided to check it out. And I can’t get over how great an album it is.
Now I’m going to start this review by mentioning a few things I dislike about rap as a genre. 1) I dislike all of the “guests” that appear on a record–I bought the album because for you, not your friends. 2) I dislike excessive use of “unh” and “yeah” at the beginning of a track; when you have nothing to say–let the backing music flow, save your voice for actual words. 3) Rap is still terribly misogynist and vulgar–I’ve nothing against vulgarity per se (I do have something against misogyny) but excessive use is lazy, and it stands out much more in a rap song since you’re saying the words not singing them.
The Kanye West album is guilty of all three of these things, and yet I still think it’s fantastic. The first reason is because it goes beyond a lot of rap by introducing real musical content into the songs. This is not an “all rap is just a beatbox” dismissal of rap, it’s an observation that rap tends to be more about the lyrics and the musical accompaniment can get kind of lazy. West’s songs have (beautiful) choruses, strings, and samples that augment the rest of the song, as opposed to samples that ARE the song. And Kanye West’s voice is great. His delivery is weird and twisted, a little cocky but more funny, with a twisted attitude that is really cool–and to my rather limited palate of rappers, it’s original.
The opening of the disc “Dark Fantasy” has a chorus singing “Can we get much higher” which is catchy and cool (and is used in the promo for The Hangover 2). The switch from this opening to the rapping works well (aside from the FOUR “yea”s). Although I don’t love the yeahs, I love his delivery, and that he occasionally ends lines with these weird “hunh” sounds, that are wonderfully emphatic.
The guests start showing up on track 2, but even the guests can’t detract from the excellent guitars of the song (and the cool solo). And I’ll say about the guests that I like some of them, but for the most part I’d rather hear Kanye.
“Power” samples King Crimson’s, “21st Century Schizoid Man”; anyone who samples King Crimson is alright with me. But to use it so perfectly, to make it part of your song is real genius. It works musically as well as within the overall concept of the album.
“All of the Lights” (with the pretty piano intro) features scads of guests including John Legend, The-Dream, Elly Jackson, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Kid Cudi, Elton John (!), and Rihanna. I can hear some of these people but not Elton John (why would he agree to be on a track where you can’t even hear him?). It is a beautiful pop track nevertheless.
“Monster” is a monster of tracks with yet more guests (I like that some of these guests break with the typical guest, like Bon Iver (!)). And I really like Nicki Minaj’s verse. [I’m not familiar with her work at all (in fact I keep wanting to say Minja instead of Minaj) but her verse with the wonderfully crazy vocal styling she displays is weird and cool and very powerful–I would like to check out her solo album, but the samples I heard weren’t that interesting]. It also has a great repeated chorus of being a “motherfucking monster.”
It’s followed by the even more catchy “So Appalled” (with FIVE guest rappers–some of whom I’ve never heard of but who do a good job. I love Cyhi da Prince’s lyrics: “I am so outrageous, I wear my pride on my sleeve like a bracelet, if God had an iPod, I’d be on his playlist” or “So call my lady Rosa Parks/I am nothing like them niggas baby those are marks/I met this girl on Valentine’s Day/fucked her in May/she found out about April so she chose to March” or this line, “y’all just some major haters and some math minors.”
“Devil in a New Dress” opens with a bunch of “unhs” (which I dislike) but this is nice ballad in the midst of all of the noise (and it has some clever lyrics). It morphs right into “Runaway” one of the more audacious singles I can think of. The piano melody is so simple (a single note to start) and the lyrics show Kanye as a loser in relationships. It’s a surprisingly thoughtful song for a song with a chorus that goes: “Lets have a toast for the douchebags, let’s have a toast for the asshole; a toast for the scumbags every one of them that I know. You been putting up with my shit for way too long…runaway fast as you can.” It gets even more audacious when you realize the last 4 minutes of the song are a solo with distorted voice. And the video…the video is 35 minutes long!
The sentiment of that song is erased by the next one, “Hell of a Life”. It opens with a great distorted guitar riff and lyrics about sex with a porn star. “Blame Game” is a surprisingly honest song about being nasty to your girlfriend (“I’d rather argue with you than be with someone else”). It features a sample of Aphex Twin’s (!) “Avril 14th”. And it’s quite a sad but lovely track. It ends with a very long skit by Chris Rock. I like Chris Rock, but this dialogue is kind of creepy because the woman who Rock is talking to (about the great sex she gave him) seems to be a robotic sample–why not have an actual woman talk to him?
The final track, “Lost in the World” has a lengthy intro by an auto-tuned Bon Iver. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the disc, especially the end, where the processed vocals get even weirder but accent the beat wonderfully. This track morphs into what is the actual final track, “Who Will Survive in America” which is basically a long recitation from Gil-Scot Heron. It works great as an album closer.
So, despite several things I don’t like about the disc, overall, it’s really an amazing release. And I can overlook the few things I dislike because the rest is so solid. I can’t decide if it’s worth looking for his earlier releases. How can they live up to this one?
[READ: May 6, 2011] McSweeney’s #37
This is the first McSweeney’s book where I’ve had to complain about the binding. The glue peeled off pretty quickly from the center cover. Fortunately, the back cover held up well. I’m guessing it’s because there’s an extra book tucked into the front cover which prevents the book from closing nicely when it’s removed.
But aside from that, the design of the cover is very cool. It is meant to look like a book (duh), but actually like a 3-D book, so the bottom right and top left corners are cut on diagonals (this makes for a very disconcerting-looking book inside–with triangles cut across the top). The artwork inside is also cool. In keeping with this appearance, each two page spread looks like a book with a spine drawing in the gutter of the pages). And the bottom of each page has lines making it look like the bottom of a book. (The illustrated margins are by SOPHIA CARA FRYDMAN and HENRY JAMES and there are interior paintings by JONATHAN RUNCIO).
The front matter is wonderful. Although it gives the usual publishing information, the bulk of this small print section is devoted to counteracting all the claims that the book is dead. It offers plenty of statistics to show that not only are the public reading, they are reading more than ever. The introduction also goes a long way towards arguing against the idea that people are reading less now than in the past. When was this “golden age” of readers? There’s also the wonderfully encouraging news that 98% of American are considered literate.
SOUNDTRACK: PUBLIC IMAGE LTD-“Poptones” and “Careering” on American Bandstand (1980).
The Dick Clark article below alerted me to this bizarre gem–PiL “playing” on American Bandstand. The article talks about John Lydon ignoring the lip synch, climbing into the audience and generally disregarding the show’s script. The video suggests something sightly less sinister (although maybe for 1980 it was outrageous–do you really cross Dick Clark?).
I Just Read About That... 