Author: James B. Eldred (Page 6 of 21)

LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening

May 11, 2010 /


RIYL: Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music

James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem is the hipsterest band out there. And for that he gets a lot of backlash from hipster haters, myself included. But it’s not fair to mock an artist because his primary fan base is annoying as hell. If that was the case, I could never enjoy Nine Inch Nails. And besides, with all the v-neck shirts and ironic facial hair, it’s easy to forget that Murphy gave us one of the best albums of the decade with his group’s self-titled debut. And his debut single “Losing My Edge” remains the definitive critique of self-righteous musical-know-it-alls-by-way-of-Wikipedia (aka his biggest fans). He’s not a one-trick pony, either; 45:33 was an excellent piece of longform instrumental music, and Sound of Silver had more than its fair share of amazing tracks.

What makes Murphy’s music so enthralling isn’t the music itself, which is good in a “Hey, I really like krautrock and early New Order” kind of way; it’s the lyrics that grab you. Whether he’s attacking hipsters with “Losing My Edge” or commenting on the world view of Ugly Americans with “North American Scum,” the dude never seems to be at a loss of words and clever ways to comment on society. All while coating his clever and sometimes scathing messages with amazing retro-inspired dance beats.

That was, until This is Happening. That’s not a title, that’s a threat, forcing you to realize that this is a real record. You want to forget this record exists, but…THIS IS HAPPENING. You can’t avoid it.

First the highlights, there are three amazing tracks on This Is Happening. Thankfully they’re all in a row; “One Touch,” “All I Want” and “I Can Change” are all straight-up excellent examples of everything James Murphy does right. Witty lyrics, perfect beats and great synthesized beeps and blips. Download them now and never ever try to listen to anything else on this record. Just pretend it’s a three-track EP. Because if you don’t, then you might hear “Drunk Girls.”

Lyrically the song is pointless drivel, a haphazard rant about, well, look at the title. Musically it’s even worse, criminal even. Some have suggested that the song bares more than a passing resemblance to the Velvet Underground’s “White Light/White Heat.” Those people are being polite. “Drunk Girls” cribs so blatantly from that classic tune that it’s flat-out theft. “Drunk Girls” is “White Light/White Heat,” with new, shitty lyrics and a crap synth line. If Lou Reed isn’t getting paid every time some skinny PBR-drinking hipster with a horrible beard sends this video to his skinny-jeaned Facebook friends, then he needs a better lawyer. Or maybe not. Because even though “Drunk Girls” manages to shamelessly crib from one of the greatest songs of all time it also manages to suck all the quality out of it. It is the second worst thing that Murphy has ever released to the public.

That’s right; the second. Because the worst comes later with “Pow Pow,” a track so bad that I’m almost hopeful it’s a prank. Here Murphy’s sing/talk vocals, which are usually at least serviceable, are delivered in an unlistenable whiny tone that is the vocal equivalent of a screwdriver jamming itself through through your ear down to your intestines. And it’s eight and a half minutes long! It’s like an electronic version of “Freebird” for masochists.

Thankfully, the remaining tracks are just regular bad, and not additional contenders for the worst song ever recorded. “Somebody’s Calling Me” is droning drivel, and the closer “Home” is so forgettable that by the time it’s over you’ll have forgotten the beginning.

You know how when a celebrity you love does something horrible, and it permanently ruins your view of that person? Like, no matter how hard you try you can’t watch “Lethal Weapon” the same way again because all you see is drunken anti-Semite Mel Gibson calling a female cop Sugar Tits? Well, save for those three stand-out tracks, This is Happening is so damned bad that it may very well stop me from ever enjoying “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” ever again. Damn. (DFA 2010)

LCD Soundsystem MySpace Page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Electronica, Hipster

Judas Priest: British Steel 30th Anniversary Edition

May 5, 2010 /


RIYL: Iron Maiden, Saxon, Breakin’ the law

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 30 years since Judas Priest help define modern metal with their masterpiece British Steel. And with this new deluxe edition celebrating that anniversary, it’s almost as hard to believe that almost all of it still holds up. But even though times change, Halford is still Halford, and his epic yell ensures that British Steel is still heavier than ever.

Sure, time hasn’t been kind to the whole thing; the odd anthem “United” is goofier than ever, and the “man, parents sure do suck” vibe of “You Don’t Have to Be Old to Be Wise” sounds like something your cool uncle would say after your dad yells at you for breaking curfew. But even in their cheesiness these tracks still work somewhat, if nothing else than as a time capsule for a simpler bygone era. And even if those tracks are a bit embarrassing now, “Rapid Fire,” “Metal Gods” and the one-two punch of “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight” remain just as metal-horn salute worthy now as they were in 1980.

Judas_Priest_01

This 30th Anniversary Edition includes a bonus live disc that features a 2009 recording of Priest performing the album in its entirety. It’s kind of superfluous, since they don’t really add much to the tracks in these new live versions. What is worthwhile is the encore, which features new and old Priest favorites like “The Ripper,” “Hell Patrol” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.”

Old fans of Priest (and man, they must be getting old by now) should dig the new remaster and bonus live cuts, and for all the youngins out there inexperienced in the way of Halford’s epic howl, this serves as a great starting point. (Columbia 2010)

Judas Priest MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Metal, Rock

Broken Social Scene: Forgiveness Rock Record

May 4, 2010 /


RIYL: Arcade Fire, Secret Machines, and the 80 other bands that can be linked to Broken Social Scene

My promo copy of Forgiveness Rock Record doesn’t have linear notes, so I can’t list who is in this incarnation of Broken Social Scene. I read claims that over 30 musicians make appearance on the record, which sounds about right. What are they all doing? Heck if I know. There’s a horn section, a few different kinds of keyboards, a multitude of string instruments, and a ton of other stuff. If someone told me that Broken Social Scene had a dedicated triangle player at this point I would believe them. The don’t sound “big” per se; I would reserve that descriptor for prog rock or bombastic groups like Muse. They sound “large.” So much so that it might be time for a diet.

This is a very good record, but sometimes it feels like it’s good in spite of itself. It’s great that Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning were able to gather damn near everyone in the Toronto area to record a record, but after a while the songs almost get lost in all the chaos. “Chase Scene” starts off as a quirky upbeat number with a great retro synth sound, but by the time it’s over the multitude of strings, backing vocals and pounding drums that nearly all sense of melody is lost. I bet it sounds amazing live, but its a bit much within the confines of a CD.

Maybe it’s for the best though, because slower, quiet tracks like “Highway Slipper Jam” are dull and lifeless. Other songs are just too damn goofy, but it’s hard to hold that against a group who had a song called “Handjobs for the Holidays” on their previous album. Still, that number sounds downright serious next to “Me and My Hand,” a somber ballad that is seemingly a love song about self-love. It’s not as funny as you might think. And the lyrics to “Texico Bitches,” which repeat that horrible title ad nauseum, are so brain-damagingly stupid that they pretty much ruin the song. Inversely, the entirely instrumental “Meet Me in the Basement” is by far the best song on the album, and is one of the few cases where their glorious over-production works perfectly, peaking in a climax of horns, strings, drums most likely every other instrument the group was able to rent that afternoon

Despite the magnificent highs that the album occasionally reaches, this is Broken Social Scene’s most uneven collection to date. Maybe its time that Canning and Drew limit the number of their friends that they’ll allow in this collective and instead work on collecting some memorable melodies. (Arts & Crafts 2010)

Broken Social Scene MySpace Page

Alternative, Big Band, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Hipster, Melodramatic, Power Pop, Rock

Big Audio Dynamite: This Is Big Audio Dynamite (Legacy Edition)

April 22, 2010 /


RIYL: Public Image Ltd., Primal Scream, The Clash

Big Audio Dynamite are kind of a “lost” bands of the ’80s. Sure, you may still hear “The Globe” a cut from the band’s second incarnation Big Audio Dynamite II, on retro playlists, but aside from that they’ve all but vanished from the pop culture lexicon, not that they were that big a presence on it to begin with. The band’s measured success remains befuddling when you consider it was Mick Jones’ baby, the group he put together after getting fired from the Clash in 1983.

Big_Audio_Dynamite_02

Hopefully this new Legacy Edition re-issue of the group’s 1985 debut will open the band up for re-evaluation. The importance of This Is Big Audio Dynamite has faded over time, but when it came out it was a technological wonder, the first rock record to embrace the sampling movement of rap music and take it to a direction never heard before. While singles like “E=MC²” and “The Bottom Line” may seem a little quaint now, they were revolutionary at the time in how the took samples from movies and other sources and seamlessly incorporated them into the music. It’s a style you saw resurface just a few years later in bands like Massive Attack and Portishead. Ahead of their time back then, it now sounds dated in the most charming of ways.

The bonus disc is what makes this re-issue really worthwhile though, because while the album versions of their singles were always good, the 12” remixes was where the band really shined. Making the package an even sweeter deal are excellent b-sides such as “Electric Vandal” and the forgotten title track, which is a condensed amalgamation of nearly every sample that appeared on the album. Even the goofier bonuses, such as the vocoder version of “BAD” and the beyond-silly “Albert Einstein Meets the Human Beatbox” are welcome time capsules of a bygone era where stuff like this was groundbreaking and cutting-edge. A must-buy for fans of the band as well as fans of dance-punk who want to see where it all started. (Columbia 2010)

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Dub, Electronica, Punk, Reggae, Rock

MGMT: Congratulations

April 14, 2010 /


RIYL: The Beach Boys, The Beta Band, The Flaming Lips

With “Time to Pretend,” MGMT crafted a brilliant piece of pop that detailed exactly why they were destined for obscurity. Of course that song ended up being an underground hit of sorts and skyrocketed the band to an appeal that wasn’t exactly mainstream, but was definitely above their original low expectations. And while the band will never attain the stereotyped superstar status that will bring them heroin, models and international fame detailed in that song, they have managed to achieve one rock cliché with the release of Congratulations; the mediocre and needlessly complex second album.

The band has gone out of their way to describe this album in interviews as a cohesive work that should be listened in its entirety, and that it’s not a “singles” record. That’s a lie. This is the definition of a singles record, with the singles being the only worthwhile tracks on the album. Psychedelic freakouts “It’s Working” and “Flash Delirium” stand out so high above the sonic wallpaper they surround that they almost sound like they were recorded by a different band. This rings especially true with “Flash Delirium,” a piece of Beach Boys-inspired psychedelia that Brian Wilson might have written during one of his more manic phases. Another Brian supplies inspiration for the album’s third and final stand-out track; “Brian Eno,” a fast-paced romp of glammed power pop that should please fans of Eno-era Roxy Music.

mgmt band

The rest of the album is just so dull and forgettable that it’s not even worth complaining over, but I’ll try anyway. “Someone’s Missing” is an apt title for a track so incomplete, as it sounds like a half-finished idea that someone forgot to produce, while the bloated “Siberian Breaks” is a 12-minute journey into ambivalence, devoid of anything resembling a hook or memorable riff. The duo’s attempt at slowing things down, like on the tepid “I Found a Whistle” and the instrumental ‘Lada Dada’s Nightmare” are where things really fall apart into a sea of somber banality. Yikes, maybe there is some stuff here worth complaining over after all.

Download “Flash Delirium,” “It’s Working” and “Brian Eno,” because they are amazing tracks. But avoid everything else that Congratulations has to offer. Until then, here’s hoping that MGMT’s third album is the stereotypical “comeback” record that brings them back to form. (Sony/Columbia 2010)

MGMT MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica, Psychedelic, Rock

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