http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9lkxq7tGuY
Roses — the actual song of which starts at about 1:00 in, in the video above — is magnificent. OutKast at the height of their ambition, half Prince/Michael Jackson, half hip-hop; a West Side Story parody, a hate-song (instead of a love-song); call-and-response, full of visual puns, set as a high school, funny and dramatic and an incredible song to boot. I don't know much about Andre 3000 and Big Boi, but I know that Roses was from Andre's half of their dueling double album, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. And that jazz intro!
Moreover, the song is addictive; it hits a certain timbre in my ear that can't get enough of it. The tone of Andre's voice, the organ and steady, slow drum beat; the call and response from Big Boi; the micro-repetitive patterns and subtleties to the lyrics and melodies; the variations on a theme; it's all perfect.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Retrograde — James Blake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p6PcFFUm5I
James Blake is a mystery; so many artists choose to be these days. He smirks behind strong, decisive neo-soul beats, and the music swells until all you can hear is his voice, drowned out by its own echoes. I'm never sure what he's saying or what he means, but his voice is beautiful, and all is forgiven. And the video is the same; there's a biker who fell from space; a house suspended with bits of rock; the biker comes in and out and inspects during a frozen time; perhaps there's a meteorite, suddenly I'm hit; it's dark and dramatic, but with no rhyme or reason, only a strong emotional impulse, an impulse not to communicate and share, but an impulse to get something out, something weird and dark and brilliant inside yourself, and the only way to get it out is to sing these strange drone-electronica songs, and to ask and tell people what it means. I haven't got a damn clue what it all means. Do I want to? As long as he wants to, I think it's all okay.
James Blake is a mystery; so many artists choose to be these days. He smirks behind strong, decisive neo-soul beats, and the music swells until all you can hear is his voice, drowned out by its own echoes. I'm never sure what he's saying or what he means, but his voice is beautiful, and all is forgiven. And the video is the same; there's a biker who fell from space; a house suspended with bits of rock; the biker comes in and out and inspects during a frozen time; perhaps there's a meteorite, suddenly I'm hit; it's dark and dramatic, but with no rhyme or reason, only a strong emotional impulse, an impulse not to communicate and share, but an impulse to get something out, something weird and dark and brilliant inside yourself, and the only way to get it out is to sing these strange drone-electronica songs, and to ask and tell people what it means. I haven't got a damn clue what it all means. Do I want to? As long as he wants to, I think it's all okay.
I'll Be Gone — Mario & Vidis feat. Jazzu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pka3c67_MF4
This song is so absent and empty emotionally, and yet so full in timbre; it shuffles and shudders under its own weight; the claps and reverbs trickle off into pattering in the background, and the synths swell and subside; the vocalist breathes heavily before ever singing. When she does, it's resigned and apathetic, a dance beat to get out a notion of riddance. And it's bittersweet, but it's mostly bitter; the music stays light, but there's an underlying darkness. The video draws out the instruments in seismometers tracing blood onto graph paper; as the music goes on, it begins to float off the page; nothing is permanent.
This song is so absent and empty emotionally, and yet so full in timbre; it shuffles and shudders under its own weight; the claps and reverbs trickle off into pattering in the background, and the synths swell and subside; the vocalist breathes heavily before ever singing. When she does, it's resigned and apathetic, a dance beat to get out a notion of riddance. And it's bittersweet, but it's mostly bitter; the music stays light, but there's an underlying darkness. The video draws out the instruments in seismometers tracing blood onto graph paper; as the music goes on, it begins to float off the page; nothing is permanent.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Not In Love — Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32udqal_lyQ
Something about this song hits me like a ton of bricks. In content, it's a break-up song, about the end of a relationship and the inability to reconcile the gap between people; in tone, it's an anthem, a heart-pounding electronica dance mix; in context, I used it heavily in my own life as a love song, ironic and bittersweet and decontextualized; the song, already all but bereft of emotional content, gained only more. And Robert Smith, emerging from semi-retirement to perform guest vocals on a weird Canadian electronica track, he lends context too; suddenly this track is tied irrevocably to the entire catalogs of The Cure, and all the emotional weight that carries. And the song pounds on and on, and he's not in love, he's fallen out, and there's no rhyme or reason to why; it's part of his life, he'll carry on, but he doesn't have to be happy about it.
Something about this song hits me like a ton of bricks. In content, it's a break-up song, about the end of a relationship and the inability to reconcile the gap between people; in tone, it's an anthem, a heart-pounding electronica dance mix; in context, I used it heavily in my own life as a love song, ironic and bittersweet and decontextualized; the song, already all but bereft of emotional content, gained only more. And Robert Smith, emerging from semi-retirement to perform guest vocals on a weird Canadian electronica track, he lends context too; suddenly this track is tied irrevocably to the entire catalogs of The Cure, and all the emotional weight that carries. And the song pounds on and on, and he's not in love, he's fallen out, and there's no rhyme or reason to why; it's part of his life, he'll carry on, but he doesn't have to be happy about it.
Everything Is Everything — Phoenix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFVeSefg72U
Good pop — pop that doesn't make you feel guilty for liking something popular; pop that isn't simply dumb; pop that isn't about sex or clubs — pop that is about a mood and a feeling, this is rare pop. Old Phoenix, before they were incredibly famous, when they were a little alt-rock outfit from Versailles, this was good, rare pop. And it is — you can choose to listen to the lyrics. They're mostly meaningless, and they know it. And the chords are nothing special, and the instrumentation has some nice jazz chords and surprisingly complex rhythms, but those aren't the reasons we like pop. We like pop because it strikes just the right balance between predictable rhythms and tones and new, fresh timbres. We want to be tickled — not pained, not to have to strive to pay attention, and not to be bored. Listening to this song, I'm tickled. It's cute and charming and interesting; there are four guitars weaving in and out, the acoustic guitar providing some great rhythms, there's dynamics, but moreover it just works.
Good pop — pop that doesn't make you feel guilty for liking something popular; pop that isn't simply dumb; pop that isn't about sex or clubs — pop that is about a mood and a feeling, this is rare pop. Old Phoenix, before they were incredibly famous, when they were a little alt-rock outfit from Versailles, this was good, rare pop. And it is — you can choose to listen to the lyrics. They're mostly meaningless, and they know it. And the chords are nothing special, and the instrumentation has some nice jazz chords and surprisingly complex rhythms, but those aren't the reasons we like pop. We like pop because it strikes just the right balance between predictable rhythms and tones and new, fresh timbres. We want to be tickled — not pained, not to have to strive to pay attention, and not to be bored. Listening to this song, I'm tickled. It's cute and charming and interesting; there are four guitars weaving in and out, the acoustic guitar providing some great rhythms, there's dynamics, but moreover it just works.
Friday, March 29, 2013
And So It Goes — Billy Joel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcUCYtyaLrY
This is a song I first heard performed by The Duke's Men of Yale, a collegiate a cappella group. They did it slow and somber, and I thought it was a slowed-down treatment of an 80s pop song; I looked it up with the key lyric 'this heart to break'; and found it was truly a slow and gorgeous Billy Joel song. A Billy Joel song without the strappings of a Billy Joel song; no arpeggio piano exercises, no dramatic strings, no New-York-in-the-80s vibe; it's about love and loss, and it's sweet and sad and slow and hopeful, and it's perfection. For an artist like Billy Joel to take a break from his intensities for a ballad without pretenses, this is a remarkable song.
This is a song I first heard performed by The Duke's Men of Yale, a collegiate a cappella group. They did it slow and somber, and I thought it was a slowed-down treatment of an 80s pop song; I looked it up with the key lyric 'this heart to break'; and found it was truly a slow and gorgeous Billy Joel song. A Billy Joel song without the strappings of a Billy Joel song; no arpeggio piano exercises, no dramatic strings, no New-York-in-the-80s vibe; it's about love and loss, and it's sweet and sad and slow and hopeful, and it's perfection. For an artist like Billy Joel to take a break from his intensities for a ballad without pretenses, this is a remarkable song.
Eloy — Deaf Center
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Shx98a7rU
Deaf Center is Norwegian, ambient, neoclassical, weird and quiet and lush and incredibly creepy. It's music for something-is-about-to-happen and it's music for think-on-your-sins; it's music for take-a-walk-at-night-when-you-shouldn't and it's music for keep-working, keep-your-head-down, keep-calm. It's especially music for meditation; it's drone and slow and horrid and peaceful; dramatic without being melodramatic; intentioned and controlled yet expressive; dark and sinister but without the cruelty or horror of most dark ambient. It's not about death or disease or war, it's not about sadness. It's about what kinds of sounds evoke a reaction, and it's incredibly successful.
Deaf Center is Norwegian, ambient, neoclassical, weird and quiet and lush and incredibly creepy. It's music for something-is-about-to-happen and it's music for think-on-your-sins; it's music for take-a-walk-at-night-when-you-shouldn't and it's music for keep-working, keep-your-head-down, keep-calm. It's especially music for meditation; it's drone and slow and horrid and peaceful; dramatic without being melodramatic; intentioned and controlled yet expressive; dark and sinister but without the cruelty or horror of most dark ambient. It's not about death or disease or war, it's not about sadness. It's about what kinds of sounds evoke a reaction, and it's incredibly successful.
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