Centipede Hz: Stream of Consciousness

Moonjock: pulse like you mean it, pulse like we don’t know what meter is, lay the vocals across it like it’s the easiest thing. we know when the radio set’s ended. it’s disappointing to lose the bass and drop into 4/4, building the energy back together to jump around like you’re someone flipping the volume on the radio in rhythm. I don’t feel what you’re developing but when the bass dives back I wonder if maybe the crescendos will blow out my ears with headphones. at the very least you’ve made a music of density and lack thereof. the album rises from the synthy muck just as much as from the list of influences.

Today's Supernatural: chick choom. the kind of energy it takes to drop the beat away on your “lelelelelelet”s is the same it takes to drive the arpeggios together. MPP never really gave up on its sense on silence. It’s not that you haven’t been this tight before, but you’re not just pushing the tempos up, you’re dancing more clearly in front of the eye. I feel like you trust me more, undistorted and playing on regular beats with handclaps. It’s not about pop, trying to genrify into that is either a tautology or useless. you’re straying too far from your hook and that’s part of your game, to spread us out and make us feel lost even while we know that the rhythm is something almost too familiar to the radio. nice accelerating part; rhythm is still in your control, your god to toy me with.

Rosie Oh: and you start a third groove and it’s corrupted from the start, and the halo of noise becomes more interesting and worthwhile as the passenger’s more worth it than the car. you’re opposing what your bass is plucking out and its rocky progressions and drifting into them when you feel, riding the synths back in and out. this is music of attention, attention is the manipulated factor, the pitch and timbre are a harmonic language that-

Applesauce: oh this one’s pretty. nice use of “lil honey” to draw intensity from what was just a little push. in some ways this sounds like their first record with the tempos up and synths up, is that the same bass tone? this song I could get into forever, progressing from part to part holding my hand a lot more than the earlier ones. I’m not quite bored yet, I wonder if the word for what you’re doing in spinning out these parts is in “progressive” or in “epic” (as in, the theater, and Of Montreal’s fortspinnung) or in “collage” since the parts don’t quite fit together in a really refreshing way, like there’s a bit of modulation to get from one instrumentation and chord progression to another, a certain amount of potential energy to overcome. a lot of these songs repeat themselves a lot! goodness guys I can’t hear the differences between the repeats on these speakers. the song winds down  to counting and four-on-the-floor with the 12/8 you hint at flitting about like a ghost.

Wide Eyed: wispy whispery. a contained rocket-arpeggio, an engine. you use tricks like this to hide the quicker pulses, like there’s some 14-year old drum student tapping out double-tap rolls behind each song that you phase in and out or something. not literally. nice use of the bass  to alter and compress the groove. these songs could go so many more places, at the same time! they could lose some of their structural redundancy and each generate enough material (pleasant motivic redundancy, Mozart!) to kick around for 8-9 minutes. who’s singing? this song paces about in its pen for a bit and then never really gets out, brings you down into it kinda.

Father Time: starting without mama bass! you oh my good just insert yourself where needed. you’re clearly working with the same materials in all of these songs, using idioms that blink briefly into the most intense beat you’ve ever heard and dropping itself back into a stable home for what a “song” should be. 

New Town Burnout: up and down, up an down, up a down. the rhythm’s only the most stressed and tentative of glues, the road and the empty space, slowly populated by motion and by sync with the rising density of the vocals.  this is fun, this is fun, this is easy too. when you drop it all out like that, though, it’s not as exciting, it’s built into us and we never really lose it, it doesn’t have the same tension as your “leleles.”

Monkey Riches: Please get into some glitch here PLEASE it would make my day, I want it to come! I don’t want every facet of how you can mix things together and turn your face away from the massive cathedral-in-process-of-collapsing house of rhythm that this could be. once you get used to this, there’s no drama I can hear…am I asking the wrong things? you get to a great place at the end of that one!

Mercury Man: oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh that that that that that that “sounds like she’s talking to me on the phone” I’m in love with the groundwork for this one, if this is what your formulas can do then I do not mind, I can not mind the crown this jewel is in. kick stop! kick stop! woooooeoeoeo.

Pulleys: I don’t have much else on the rest of these. They invent themselves in clever ways that I can’t quite pinpoint right now, it sounds like the subtlties are worth diving into, I can’t quite hear what the currents of synths are doing to carry the sounds along. This feels like something very new in pop, something not in the 2k0s, hinted at in Radiohead and Sufjan’s last releases, something using a quieter language to make louder things, a decade of whirring and silence and loops.

Amanita: there was another song! it was fine.

Quick Thoughts on those Two New Arcade Fire Single

If that is starting Suburbs I will be so happy, but...I hate the double-tracked vocals and slow vocal phrasing right now. The bassline feels ugly, just going along on its own. It...this is arcade fire's new direction, I follow, but I'm not getting the same sense of invention that I did before. It feels like a radio bite. When the drums re-enter around 2:25 I feel them, but then I lose them again. The songs on Funeral took the entire track to reach their climax, but never lost their strong energy, which derived from simple parts mixing in complex and beautiful ways. On first listen this song lay down on the table, took its clothes off, and screamed at me for a bit, and then fell off.
On second listen the groove feels more like a baptism. I guess the simplicity of it is jarring me. The instrumentation is like a punk band with a synthesizer, that's part of what throws me off. Still, this feels too processed to me, it's swells and falls back on its noise, not the spirit that was so clear on the last two LPs. Black Mirror, by contrast, swelled in slowly and then hit you over the head with its power. I'm not sure this more...sideways, punky, radio-conscious, simple startup really speaks to me like I was hoping it to. This is the first time I've had any concerns about the new LP. I'm liking the song more as it goes on, especially that breakdown has a lot to it. I'm just...concerned.

This is also different, more punky and radio in its production, but this is more welcoming in its lyrics. There's more going on under its simple groove; the bassline doesn't feel flaccid or pudgy (...), with the other parts with it. The disco stuff seems weird at first, but that four-on-the-floor drumbeat was always present in their music. This makes a lot more sense to me as a sequel to the rest of their music: innovative, creative in its themes and entrances, and powerful. I still don't "get" the production style, which feels blown out in ways that even Neon Bible wasn't. This electropop vocabulary will take more getting used to. Regine's interjections bring me right back to Funeral, eeee. I just realized part of the problem is my bass-heavy speakers, but still that last buildup didn't have everything I expected it to.

Again, though, this I can give more of a chance than that first track. Also, this album seems to be able music a lot, so the level of commentary about music by enacting either what they're hoping for or fighting against is important.

Overall, I hope I'm able to change enough to appreciate this promise.

Suburbs/Month of May and Album Playlist of the Half-Month

I'll start with the small news:

Just like I've had the same playlist stuck on the "Now Playing" thing on my Zune , I like to switch it up every so often...like every half-month. So I'll pick a random point in the alphabet and harp on it, giving short thoughts or longer ones maybe baby.

This week:

Wilco: "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"

My dad was the first one to get me into this group/album, so my first memories of it are from a few long car rides, and listening to orange-tan colored rock music tinged with something I couldn't recognize. Second was drumming on "Jesus, Etc." and not realizing it was from this album, and then I started getting into it again. For the last instrumental concert of the year I played drums on "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" with 6 kids from the Jazz Band...it was hard, but really special. The entire album is easy to listen to but hard to pick apart, not only lyrically but in musical motifs beyond the trite "music/noise." What I feel in it, though is a hotel filled with resting anticipations and wishes, trying to free themselves and taking weirdly-lighted trips out into the "real world."

Wrecked Machines: "Worried World"

It's...good trance? I didn't give it too many listens but I felt like I was listening to something more artful than a lot of dance music can do for me.

Dosh: "Wolves and Wishes"

Probably the favorite stuff on the playlist. I first got suggested it asking around on /mu/ for music that used music boxes, and heard it again at a religious conference. Some of the rhythms and energy remind me of Akron/Family, or some of the hip but none of the hop of Avalanches, or none of the catharsis and all of the energy of Explosions in the Sky. Hooah. Beautiful rambling instrumental music, I could dance to this for ages.

Patrick Wolf: "Wind in the Wires"

I'm not a fan. I enjoyed it at first when I was able to follow the drama of it. And it's all about drama, the kind of suspension of disbelief that an album about Gypsy Kings and the Shadowsea and all sorts of fantasy characters to take place. But really, once you take all the sexy club-style bass out of "Libertine" (which I had to do, on the train), what I'm getting is a lyrically freewheeling musically dry set of stuff. Like, listen to Tristan with the bass low. That's what the album is for me, funky but dead. Then set the bass way up and rock out to it.

The Unicorns: "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?"

I think there are only two songs in the world that are perfect, fully perfect, that nothing could be done to them to make them better. "Tuff Ghost" is one of them ("Swans (Life After Death)" is the other, heheh). I either see this album as a half-assed concept album or a pretentiously thrown-together set of songs trying to be about death, but some of the songs just kill. What's weird about it is that even though I feel the album's concept teeters a lot, the songs are so strange in form (the abrupt ending of "I Don't Wanna Die" or the long unbalanced jam of "Child Star") that they lean on each other a lot to make sense, so there is a flow. I'm overharshing the concept, too, it's not that...argh....I guess just like Islands' first album, this is really about making music, musical death and creative death and life, and I should just feel the flow. And I do. Oh I do. You can't cause I'm already dead.

Lunar: "Wall of Sound"

Is it sad that I can say that this is one of those "classical/electronica bands who don't do much for publicity and release all their music online for free" and not be alone? A lot of their music feels tired, especially when the instrumentation strives to give the music a "classical feel" in an otherwise techno song. But in terms of soundscapes and crafting...pillars of sound...they do a nice job. Some of the songs have creative strokes of real weight, too. It does happen. Just...overproduced blagh.

OK OK OK BUT NOW even though the news has broken ARCADE FIRE'S NEW SINGLE TIME.

The first thing that identifies The Suburbs as an AF song is the rolling saloon-style piano chords over the bass and drums, with maybe a distant wail of strings, in an airy sort of production style that you can't mistake from Neon Bible. More archetypes in the lyrics: suburbs, driving, mother, bombs, lost feelings, kids, family. And the suburbs! Didn't we spend a whole album on that one?

Stuff's different, though. In Funeral AF did all they could to show the reasons to paint and reject these suburbs, from the dysfunctional relationships to war and loneliness and lots of driving and water and leaving places. In coming back to this topic, though, we're breaking through the stark and wildly colorful funeral picture into something even stranger: the dead body of youth, after it left. We're exploring what Neon Bible seemed to have so strongly left behind, to travel into realms of political commentary and loss in an ocean of negative media influence.

Instead we're right into the memories, not the present or the future but the past.Moving in your mom's van, what Funeral implied is now facing us in The Suburbs: we can't escape this past, and even if the feelings go past the memories stay and kids are still screaming screaming screaming. Who knows what it means now. It was all about the childhood gestures of drawing lines between us and them, screaming and yelling, getting hard, and getting bored with it all. Did it mean anything? Ever? The loss of Funeral was the idea and meaning of youth, but surfacing from the hard-life torment of Neon Bible, they look back and the loss has mutated into something else. Something else. Something else. Still screaming.

That's exciting fucking territory to travel to. What excites me even more is that even though AF released the title track of the work, we know from Neon Bible that the title track is only an exposition, a quick look into what an album is doing. I'm not sure that there are musical frontiers here, but it reminds me most of a slowed-down verison of "Poupee de Cire / Poupee de Son" cover from the Split 7" with LCD Soundsystem. Maybe some of "Cold Wind," actually a whole lot of "Cold Wind." Usually Arcade Fire songs can be thought as pure crescendos from A to B, but with this cut the beat's always on the same, and what gets added is a bit more melancholy. The descending electric guitar, synth wails, and strings that lay suspended in the air crying out under the harsher electric bass and (really well done) drums. Acoustic guitar thoughout is a great touch, adding a folky touch. The piano always plays the same progression diatonically, but it morphs it into more spaces...the weirdo major turn earlier in the song becomes a morning pedal point, drilling drilling drilling already past already past. The song breaks maybe a lit of mold, but mostly it takes everything Arcade Fire has done so well and puts it into a 5 minute romp/funeral march. Maturity is here, and also a lot of confusion.

If Month of May had xylophone in it, you could tell it was an Arcade Fire song. I...I can't even...not right now...maybe later...

Concert Review: Flobots (5/25) and other things

Hey! So this show wasn't just Flobots, but I didn't get to catch the openers. I have no experience with the group beyond "Handlebars," and had never been up to Allston, or specifically to Harper's Ferry. It's a beautiful hole-in-the-wall with, yes, cheap beer, which is apparently why a lot of people were there. But the whole setup was casual, with no biggie ticket check even though they were a little on the pricey side ($20?). Dedicated to the band? Maybe 150. But that made it all the so much bigger.

I know shit about Flobots, but that stopped me. Stopped nobody; you could feel people gravitating in off their barstools to be here. Musically I'm into what they do, I guess. Start with: a very tight drummer, who knows when to kick on and kick off, and how to throw in double-time on the snare and hihats to funk up a beat without derailing it. The jittering mass of their songs couldn't have gone along without their bassist, who not only was tight, but creative and clearly into it. The violist did some beautiful work, with her vibrato and attention to tone, but she wasn't always able to get beyond her role and character as "contrast." Especially in a show without horns, you need to find ways to add melody, and she could've been more outgoing and stabilized some of the grooves. The guitarist was a huge geek, but I loved him dearly. Both as frontmen and as skilled musicians, though, the two rappers stole the show.

I think of rap as three things only: rhythm, tone, and beat, in order of importance. I'm going to use Busdriver's solo on Islands' "Where There's a Will, There's a Whalebone" to illustrate what I'm talking about. Rhythm and cadence are just the same as in drumming; I think that any good rap line should be able to double as a snare solo on drums. Finding ways to find those cracks in the song where offbeats, syncopation, or (favorite!) triplet runs push it forward. Here's what I'm talking about, to the right: it holds up on its own, just as music.

The manipulation of those rhythmic elements and motives has to be married to the tools of poetic words: rhymes, masculine and feminine lines, assonance, consonance, all of those simple tools of language. Sounds need to link to other sounds: in rhyme with another, in contrast with a line before it, in a pun that links back to another syllable. You can listen to rap like it's scatting.

I'm worst with the meaning. Even if that "Whalebone" song doesn't really say much that's sensible (or audible), you get the main themes pretty clearly and cleverly: being lost in a swirling realm of media, fame and fantasy, corruption, etc. Good rap can rally even if it's not specific; it can paint a picture through association, not literal words. I'm a sucker for instrumental music, but the power of a Flobots song couldn't be the same with out its lift. Decyphering their lyrics in real time was a treat, "Panacea for the Poison" especially, but everything! "Drop the debt and legalize weed" called to the crowd as much as the music behind it did, and both of them were amazing at all three things.

The two rapper added their interplay to the mix. They pushed each other in their friendly yet intense trading of lines, they spoke together and varied their tone to vaunt the whole song up, they melded their personalities against the characters that every other performer was in and blew it up with a word. Chain reactions across the floor. It was beautiful.

They wanted you to put your hands in the air and you put your hands in the air not because you felt like you had to but because you wanted to because together you could do something really exciting. They gave you messages scaled to a human level: not "overturn the Arizona immigration law now" or "equal rights for people of all sexualities and gender-identities now" or "troops out now", but prayers, wishes, conversations, and questions, meant to open our soul to what really matters: "standing up in a room. that's when change happens. Stand up, stand up, stand up..."

Kate Miller-Heidke's "Curiouser," and Concert with Ben Folds (April)

I picked up the album to your left during her tour with Ben Folds, a concert that I was very abruptly and very happily invited to at the House of Blues. More on that in a bit. In a bit of boredom, I threw a few albums together in a now playing list wtih this on it (also including Evelyn Evelyn's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" track which continues to blow my mind and The Avalanches' "Since I Left You" which is just perfect to play for friends and is not well known despite being lauded a thousand times over by Kitchfork and Antony's "The Crying Light" which is just too self-indulgently melancholy for me right now and Sufjan Steven's "The BQE," which continues to FUCK MY BRAIN but anyway). I've gotten a few chances to listen through it and I guess I'd like to say some things about it.

The album is a vein of gold. There's so much clear strength and power, and yet impure or...unrefined wouldn't be the right word, since the album's production sheen is flawless.

Despite her trademark voice abilities, I'm disappointed with the melodies she uses, which range from the unimaginative ("I Like You Better When You're Not Around") to the trite ("Caught in the Crowd"). Yet as an instrument weaving in with other, it gains an incredible amount of power ("God's Gift To Women"), catchyness ("Can't Shake It" and "Motorscooter"), and just presentation effect ("Politics in Space") . I say without irony that she would make an incredible backup or group singer, as I even saw with Ben Folds on "You Don't Know Me."

Lyrically, the album is very mixed. Her style tends to torrent along a theme or a rhyme scheme, and the effect is either stunning or falls flat on its face in a magical explosion of trite pop (..."Caught in the Crowd"...) . She's never just saying things, but she does get caught up in how smart she's doing, maybe? Or less venemously, getting caught up in the momentum that you get when you have a really good riff you like, or a pattern, and just throw it out as much as you can because you're excited. A lot of great excitement, and honesty and clarity, I don't feel bullshitted. But at the same time...I wish she listened to fewer of her pop bands and heard the songs the sex pistols made. She could focus more on energy and less on her really nice articifice.

In terms of grooves...again, mixed. There's a lot of invention going about, especially in chord progressions, song forms, and choice of instruments. But she gets caught up in it, despite all artful manipulations, and certain songs are just doomed to fail (..."Caught in the Crowd"...ok, another example: "Last Day on Earth"). But sometimes she's spot-fucking on, and the groove aligns with the words and the melody doesn't detract and and and and and the results are fireworks, "Politics in Space" and "God's Gift to Women" and "Can't Shake It" (my copy of the album also has "Words" and "Are You Fucking Kidding Me," both of which are mindblowing and were played live).

And live? She tours with an acoustic guitarist and uses a keyboard occasionally. And I think that's AMAZING. Without the tools to create a full pop artifice, she strips down the the pure energy and focuses on her strengths: insane torrents of words, radical manipulation of tone and pitch, inventive and surprising song structures over focused grooves. Kind of like Amanda Palmer touring vs. Amanda Palmer recording these days.

To sum up: I would love a panel of very, very deliberate artists and musicians and arrangers to come together and listen to this over and over, and put out a cover album of it. Mean title for it? "We Make Kate Miller-Heidke Songs Better Than Kate Miller-Heidke Can." Nice title? "We Tap Into the Inspiration and Genius of Kate Miller-Heidke."

Stream of Consciousness First Impressions: Kaz's Pack, pt. 2

John Vanderslice - Radiant with Terror

I've heard this man's name somewhere before. I love the build here, the hypnotic sway of "back and forth back and forth" lends to a greater swelling, punctuated by the slightly distorted acoustic twang and those...glockenspiels? That takes courage, to use glockenspiels. Great sense of rhythm to grow, it's understated but very very grand. Nice chords, I guess. Why double-track those lyrics, really? Still, to get so much flow and build out of such a simple, radiant (ha) intro is quite the feat. Percussive weirdness is sorta strange, not as effective as he'd like it to be. Still, this song soars really really far. Wow, he's tight, those quickstops are nice. I'm glad it's as short as it is; he knows that you can't drag that on too long. The brightest star must flash for the shortest time, right? Unless you're a quasar or something. But this is wonderful! Great, hypnotic build, quite a lot of variation on a simple theme.

Mando Diao - The Wildfire (if it were true)

To be honest, Mando Diao is awesome and wonderful when I manage to not listen closely to it. I love his grooves death, and this song is no exception. The synth part, stretching past everything, really rounds out the song. But the acoustics and drums make a fine set of percussion. I wish the rhythm electric did more then arpeggiate chords; it's those kinds of things that could give his songs the variety and inspiration which I'm looking for in him. Really nice bass notes in the pre-chorus part. The chorus soars really well, and from a non-analytical perspective this is fantastic. But it's not fulfilling, sorta like a chocolate cake with crusty frosting. The drums could be fit better into this particular groove, it doesn't flow as smoothly as some of his other things. More onbeats, more melody, etc. Great pop writer, just enough for me forgive the saxophones on the chorus (hehehe). Basslines are really inventive, that's a plus, but not appropriate in many parts.

Manic Street Preachers - Be Natural

Accordion unfolding of a strange jazzy chord, then switching into that guitar progression...I use that one one a lot, I to iv, it creates a sense of sighing and opening. The drum use is sorta typical late-80s use, but they're pretty inventive I guess. Very subtle use of synth. Wow...once things get going, the drums are a huge asset. Occasional subtle doubling of the guitar melody, which is in itself wonderful. Great bass/drum work on the verse part, I like the swirling lyrics especially because they contrast with the guitar line really effective. Is that an accordion? It's a strange but wonderful addition. Nice guitar arpeggiations on the second verse, used in a really growth/melody method. Drums compliment everything perfectly. Woah, beat driven breakdown is surprising and well-executed...this is like the typical epic rock without all the crap about it. It feels more sincere, even a bit smaller. Guitar/vocal/rhythm guitar interplay for this song will be the thing I take away; it's able to soar only because there's such an unfolding and shrouding of a melodic line. It's not really my style, as it sort of borders on classic rock stylings (clearly influenced by the more modern stuff), but I like it a lot for what it is. They just toss in this wonderful bits of brilliance. They know how to vary dynamics too, which is good, hehe.

Mew - Snow Brigade

Oh, sweet, a chance to get into these guys more like you asked . Sonic rumblings and unstated sorts of things going on. There's an interplay in this noise which I like, is all their music so abstract. Those are chords. What's coming ne- OH. Violins and then these guitar lines again INCORPORATING those noise bits. Holy shit, that is fantastic drum work, making a perfect groove. The guitars don't need to overstate anything. They round it out really nicely on the prechorus. They make some strange choices for chords, and it's a bit harsh when that monster groove comes back in, which even the floaty lyrics and the echoey pizzicato can't fix. There's a...self-indulgent sort of melancholy in the lyrics, but whatever. Wow. That's fantastic breakdown, great guitar work and intervals, perfect use of drums to contrast while the guitar does its lyric weirdness. Good hits on that synth, nice swelling noise. They have the best sensibility about noise and what the ear hears that I've heard in a while. I wish they rounded out the vocals a bit, but that's just me. They're good! Am I correct in hearing the Norwegian / northwestern european influence? This song goes on a bit long, and it can't wholly fit together for me. But it's a great tune, great tune. Ahhh, fadeouts. Classic.

Mission of Burma - This is not a Photograph

My dad got me into these guys, they're wonderful. Great basswork, especially with the drums. Great guitar groove, but the groove of the whole feels a bit halting until we get farther in. Wow, great use of noise to keep things going. Very good punk work here. This is not a photograph, etc. Like a lot of punk, all I have to say is that I like it and it's fun and exciting, and in this case pretty artful.

American Music Club - Myopic Books

I love the atmopsheric quality. Very plaintive lyrics, simple acoustic works, quietly glowing, evoking. Like the piano atompshere to...hell, this sorta borders on ambient, or at least has roots there. I love the Dino Jr. reference, but as funny as it is, the guy manages to be almost dull, but not quite. Anyway, nice out there piano intervals. The hand drums fit in really nicely, because hey, we're just walking around this street praying and thinking. But it's ok, I'll find a bookstore. The chords on the acoustic are really nice, getting all the right intervals. There's no chance music going here, just a sort of pure musing, arcing up. Maybe the worst is over...these guys remind me of Bell Orchestre somewhat. Like the breakdown, like a point where you stand still and don't look at anything while your thoughts go everywhere. What is the nature of happiness, is the point, I guess. Flashes on, flashes off, like being visited. I really like this, my girlfriend would really dig this.

Atmosphere - Panic Attack I think I heard some asshole on /mu/ saying good things about this or something, plus a good friend recommended it. I like the groove alright, it's a bit weak in parts. But it's building and getting momentum. Wow, I like his rhymes and sonorities. He knows how to vary things, make syllables shorter to create a tension, all while the guitar held note soars over. He pays a lot of attention to what he's doing. His chorus looses some power for me, because I don't really like the beat as much as other grooves. Drums aren't meant to be that subtle and offbeating in this kind of pattern. Love the noise flying through things. He's making a real statment, trying to make things real. Yeah! He's good. Nice changes under the samples. Um, yeah. Cool.

Stuff I'm Spinning / Piano

I've just been idly plugging things in, too reduced by sickness and fatigue to do some honest reviews. I feel cloudy.

Heartbeat Radio - Sondre Lerche. The guy did some fantastic work for "Dan in Real Life," and some of his other records have some interesting parts to them. When he strips away his rock influences for his acoustic focus, or generally turns down the rock for more lounge-style stuff, I'm often frustrated. His songwriting can be frustratingly convoluted, and although he has a pretty good sense of melody, his lyricism can be frustrating . He has a smooth sound, and occasionally his lounge stuff reaches good points, but the most of "Two Way Monologue" was difficult for me. Same with "Heartbeat Radio," except now he's discovered violins. His arranging in certain parts is good, and "I Guess It's Gonna Rain Today" has some wonderful intervals...but damn, he just doesn't know how to create flow and hang with it.

Tarot Sport - Fuck Buttons. I was really excited when I heard they had a new album, and I'm still working through it. However, my first impression is...disappointment. I don't like the dancey aspect to it. They used the 4/4 bass drum as a sort of pivot before, a basis or a spine, around which the song pivoted, struck against, shone with...I'm thinking directly of "Colours Move," but the regularity of the drums in a few other songs from Street Horrrsing provides a similar effect. I feel like they're...letting up a bit. That's just my first impression; I expect it to grow on me blah blah blah.

Fluent in Stroll - Big D and the Kids Table. The newfound cute self-defined "Stroll" genre is an excuse for '50s throwback and childish lyrics spiced with that same, somewhat annoying, female backup. I loved their earlier stuff, but I don't like the direction of this. Shame.

Kasabian. I'm listening to everything I can find, I love it I love it I love it I love it.



My chopin prelude (Db major for Kessler, the name "Raindrop" is highly inapt) is going awfully. I barely practiced and had no lessons ove the past three weeks. I've lost my technical ability over the parts, and I can barely play the second part of the middle section (with those rich, dissonant, tortured chords). Since it's such good music to hole up to and bash away at, in stress or peace, I think I'll spend my free time remastering certain technical aspects.

This totally leaves open all the texture-related and gesture-related and personal stuff that I should be doing. I need adjectives, and I need to stick with them and express them. I've had a few wonderful discussion about the nature of silence in the piece, and about the strange pivot point of the Ab/G# and its importance/relevance. I can barely do roman numeral analysis and I want to entirely split apart the piece and look for those golden gels and glowly liquids undearneath its placid skin. It has an unmatched range of emotion, but because the 3 statements of theme are so simliar (with the rich opportunity for contrast in the ornamentation), flow is so vitally important. How do you lead up to the creeping terror of the B section? How do you surface from it? How can you emerge from the silence, cascading down the piano in that Db major chord, with such expectation of rising again? To what? Where are we going?

I am thus overpowered by the work.

Concert Review: Toro Y Moi + Jemina Pearl + Islands

First: holy shit.

Second: I spent the entire night in front row directly, Jemina Pearl's head was six inches from my crotch, Nick Diamonds stroked my head and sang the first few lines of No You Don't with me.

It was a wonderful concert! The Flaming Lips concert a few weeks back made me realize that I am never again going to have as wonderful and transcendental an experience as I did then, and that's ok. So I'm coming into concerts more humbly, and there's a lot to like at the show.

I'm in loooove with the Middle East downstairs. It's a dive, the ceilings are slanted, the whole thing is sprawled out, shit just happens there and there's no bullshit in the way of it. Shit without bullshit. Just people playing shows from 9 PM to 12 AM, with 8 AM doors.

I got there at 8:15 or so, after stopping in with my girlfriend. The place has the definition of shitty bathrooms, but I quickly changed into a nifty new tshirt and some nice, simple jewelry. I love the coat check, took a lot of stress of my back. Because I get very...physical at concerts, screaming lyrics and using my entire body as a sort of air instrument, and in this case sort of worshipping the crazy presence of Mr. Diamonds, so it's nice to not have to carry shit. I didn't get to see my friend James there, which sucked and made me feel lonely, but my friend's roomate was there, and we chatted for a while about the music. I'm pretty bad with talking to strangers at concerts, except if I'm pumped and they're inebriated, but I did get into a conversation with one guy. Mostly, I just held my ground and listened to the music while texting in the interim.

Anyway, music. Opener was Toro Y Moi, also introducing himself as Charles. He came on stage in a sweater over a long-sleeved collared shirt, with these really thick glasses, and did his thing for 40 minutes before vacting. A really nice, humble sort of guy, and he did wonderful with the niche he put himself in. That niche was...transamerican synth-pop tinged with hip-hop and a bit of psychedelia, which is a surprisingly fleshed out genre (Rrrrrrrratatat! sorta). But hell, he had really good beats and varied them at good points, was a decent keyboardist, knew how to put a good soundscape (necessary for psychidelia) and good rhythms (necessary for pop) and good beats (necessary for hip-hop). All in all, I was very intrigued and happy with what went on. The guy is also the humblest, nicest guy you'll ever find, if that's a plus. But with his macbook and his korg and a mic...he did quite a bit very well. I was really happy about it.

I spent most of last night diving into Jemina Pearl's newest, and my general opinion of her stuff is somewhat positive. She's agressive and honest, in a refreshing sort of way. Of course she falls so easily into useless cliches, and her powerpop style leads to a lot of undue comparisons (and collaborations) with Iggy Pop. I had no expectations, and what I got was generally good. I knew the songs, and they have a good beat and a few goods riffs, while managing to somehow NOT be total hipster bullshit. I hate to say it, but it was cute. However pissed she is, I still got that vibe: "Aw, here's what Jemina's doing! She's writhing and spitting and kissing her guitar-playing boyfried. how nice" I'll give her a lot of credit for putting all of her spirit out there, even if it was clear that she was...either pissed or tipsy coming into the show. They were tight enough, they were together enough. It was alright. Not my thing. But you know? I think Iggy was there, looking disdainfully at the group. Mighta just been another weirdo with spiky black hair.

There were two disappointments to the Islands show: the fact that their ensemble was so small (no violinist, no bassonist, no freestyler like Bus Driver, just drums, a guitar/synth player, Jamie on Guitar/Synth, and Nick on guitar/vocals; and the sorta obvious fact that they are not the subtle and skilled players that seemed to record Return to the Sea. None of that...really mattered to me. The folks in the front few rows saw the setlist as it was on the floor...and we starting freaking out in excitement.

Switched On [Vap] [Costume]
No You Don't [Vap] [Costume]
Disarming the Car Bomb [Vap]
Tender Torture [Vap]
Creeper [Arm]
Where There's a Will, There's a Whalebone [Sea]
Vapours [Vap]
Heartbeat [Vap]
Don't Call Me Whitney Bobby [Sea]
On Foreigner [Vap]
The Arm [Arm]
Devout [Vap]
EOL [Vap]
I'm In Control [Vap]
----
Rough Gem [Sea]
Swans [Sea]



Parts of this were to be expected. They're still early in touring Vapours, so they're of course going to play the whole damn thing; and since Jamie wasn't around for Arm's Way (and perhaps because its quality is slightly lower), they won't do much from it: so if we're lucky, we'd get some key hits from Return to the Sea. Thus, we get 4 fantastic songs from the album, 2 of the best ones from The Arm, and almost the entire Vapours album (missing The Drums, I think, which is fine), which they managed to make very, very cool live.

I was a bit frustrated at the beginning of Switched On. Yeah, Nick in his white jumpsuit and diamond-studded cape was cool enough, and his batman glasses were even cooler, and his strange and dancey theatricals were nice and all...but I was struck by how...open their sound was. With only 3 guys on instruments (and the drummer on samples as well), there's not a lot of mobility to take everything that was detailed and exciting about their music. They held together well; they had the energy and the synergy, and they played and had fun with it. Nick seems to be a pretty understated sort of guy ("Woo, yeah." "You're awesome, Nick!" "Haha, thanks." "Are we awesome?" "Yes, you are in fact awesome...yes you are. I'd have to say that, though the purpose isn't to compare, that we are in fact more awesome." "Yeah, you're right."), and so it sort of fit. Most of the melodic lines and divisions of part were contained throughout the whole thing; it just took Nick 2 songs to take his cape off and pick up the guitar. No You Don't also showed their limitations, but also their strength of spirit.

It was at this song, Disarming the Car Bomb, that I noticed how every song was being done under tempo, seemingly for the sake of the instrumentalists. Anyway, Disarming annoyed me for the longest time, but live it's pretty nice! Think Ideoteque song become IDEOTEQUE CLOSER. Great beat, great use of drums. The drums were pretty constant throughout the whole thing, he didn't let up much to let things pass, instead just redoing rhythms and going along with a groove. He was on fire, though. It was great. Tender Torture was really good, Nick added in the guitar well, the the versatility of Jamie and the other guy was pretty clear, on synth and guitar.

Creeper was a song that they took a bit of creative liberty with. I think they changed around certain parts, cut out in a few places that weren't cut out, and might've messed with the structure a bit. I expected they'd play it live, and they did not disappoint. What was clear after No You Don't was made abundantly clear now: these guys can do amazing things on simple sorts of beats. Whalebone was great and all...it was sort of a letdown not having any freestyling over the bridge part, but they shortened it and groooved around a bit. All live acts have to face the challenge of muddiness in sound, and they did a very good job at keeping things...lucid. They kept it much more stripped down then Jemina (who is the biggest cause for my current deafness, fuck her boyfriend), but they were so energized that it was easy to get into.

Vapours was all cute and shit, clearly Nick just wanted to be cute and shit too. And so he was. Heartbeat was great, as expected: beat-driven and direct, so great for them (harkening back to the Unicorns, I guess). Don't Call me Whitney, Bobby was fucking religious. I just...everybody knew it, everybody was into it, the drummer made it better, everybody covered the parts of the song, but the sound was rounded out. It was better live. It was short and wonderfully sweet.


On Foreigner, and soon after that EOL, and I'm In Control are all in my mind a) generally bad songs, and b) songs that they did a really good live job in. Think of...Radiohead adding that bassline under The Gloaming in the Hail to the Thief tour. Kinda like that. They just do more with the synths, draw better beats together and make them less...floaty and stupid. The Arm had a few musical fuckups in it, but it had a lot of good pausing and changes of feel, which made it very very seizing and compelling: WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE GOING NEXT WOOO ISLANDDS ARE FOREVER WOOOO.


They left, came back, and played the opening chords of Rough Gem (the fucking tease actually played the opening guitar part for Volcanoes, and then switched. the bastard) and everybody went to and through the roof. It's a classic, it was distributed across iTunes and made famous, and it's just a really good song. They handled the instrumentation well, and let the synth catch a few liens while having hand claps on the quiet "Dun-dun-dun" of the hook. It was slower, but the drums and the synth really fit together nicely. They weren't their best at musicanship

In the few moments that I could actually hear the chords of Swams, I could tell that they were fucking up. A lot. It's a complex and detailed song, one requiring a lot of work and focus, and they didn't have the skill or the composure for their closer. But you know? It was fine. The memory factor was enough. They played it downtempo, making it around 11 minutes, but everything was tthere...fuck, did they add a few beats on the first proggy (major) part after the third statement of the theme, then going into the final (minor) proggy part? I think they did. That fucked me up. But all-around, I was psyched enough not to care about being off by two frets or playing in the wrong key. It was Swans, for christ's sake. It was Swans!

All in all: I loved the concert because I love Islands and Nick's funny and they have a good synergy. Also, Nick has really smooth hands. I think he just wanted to feel my hair.

Anyway, a summary: FUCK YEAAAHHHH

Stream of Consciousness First Impressions: Hiro's Pack pt. 7 + Kaz's Pack pt. 1

Midlake - Roscoe

Cool synth+electric, setting up a circular groove, and around which that perfect bassline spreads, and the rhythm gutiar works, adding...well, rhythm to the drum line as it comes in. Really good growth and introduction, that. The drum fills help create ebbs in the flow, perfect and creative addition of ride cymbols which creates a feeling of surfacing to air. Once again through...vocals are nice and all. Harmonies expand and contract, making even more flow. Flow like water. The harmony for the chorus-like part is especially badass...awoooo...now a creative rhythm and melodic acoustic on low and high frets. Gosh, these guys know how to write a song and put the bits together. Nice solo, descending lines, calmed with those double-tracked vocals after. Bass shifts surprisingly, again ebbing and flwoing. Now a rising, not descending line into the solo, which reaches farther than its counterpart while being borne into the past. 1891 must be an epicly deep, percussive yearh. Soaring, shouting, all still cyclical and excited. Ride sticks along for the last verse. and so you can just here the beginning cycling line there. Woooo!

Supergrass - St. Petersburg It's encrypted.

Yeasayer - Sunrise Yay!

More strange harmonies. Textured and creepy piano, screeching and striking. The crying and noise evolves into a beat, distrubted...maybe a bit ineffective but very cool. Nice bass, great use of vies to evoke and string things together, but the rest of the groove keeps on behind it, for better or worse. Beats get more interesting, but omsething's off...there's no...basis. Listening more to the percussive entrances/exits make it cooler/more interesting, but something isn't going right. Nice touch on the chorus. Doesn't feel like a breakdwon after it, though..wasn't in it to break, you know?Vocals build nicely but never did make for the the epicness of the start. It's denser...and not much else. Looking pack, the percussion deserves a lot more credit, but it's all too choppy to have flow, that's it. The flow doesn't work for me. The bass and voice and vibes just aren't enough. I sort of want to say "Too artful," but what I mean is that they should clear away the crap and really do what they do well. Simplify, simplify, simplify. Nice, though.

Camper Van Beethoven - Take the Skinheads Bowling

Hops into a solid groove. Like the balence: held notes on the top electric, some shift in the lower electric, and nots of good shhift in the bass. Drums is a good balence of simplicity and interestingness...oh screw you Hiro. I am laughing so hard. Thi is just...lul.

Peter Bjorn and John - The Chills

Cool fuzz-bass and good drum groove under that vibes shit and the shhhing. Breaks down nicely. The drum work is really good...even if it's a loop. Love the haunty shifty vocals. Great reintroduction of material into the verse. An unexpected breakdown...buildingand receding with drums. But once everything roars in...there isn't much actually there. It's a sweet groove, but it's just sorta burning, having some stuff thrown in. His reedy voice is less soulful, stirring, and evocative then needed...that's one of my bigger problems with PB&J, they have great hooks and great beats, and then things just sorta sit there and feel less interesting. I could see this being wonderful for dancing. Most of this stuff is wonderful for dancing, dear.

Ratatat, Slim Thug, T.I. & Bun B. - Three Kings

Again, great beat on their part. That electric is a bit annoying, but the drums and synthy moanings are really good, vary nice with the voice. Again, no discernable point in lyrics besides misogyny and hubris, great breakdown as we get closer to the chorus form, adding and removing things. Some of the rhymes are nice, but neither rapper so far is really impressing me. I like this kind of stuff, rap with a bit more variation in the beat and change as things continue on. It's quite the challenge to make a hip-hop beat and hide it an sorts of other percussion, and still have it flow, which this song acheives. But this Slim Thug man just strikes me as an asshole. Third guy I like a bit better, plays with rhythm more. Some of my favorite rappers, mostly Doesone and Subtitle, use crazy rhymes and sonorities along with rhythm and subject. But none of them are particurally inspiring. Good, but not my thing. Rhyming a bunch of things with "ug" is also pretty stupid in its own right, I'll say.

Midlake - Young Bride

Builds, emerges out of the silence on violin and octaves on the acoustic...staging, setting. The violin plays on a blues scale solemnly and reflectively, the acoustic builds up, and these drums which are simple yet really compelling, and easily and effectively altered. Like a tired old woman. They know when to stop speaking to make it awesome. Adding in bass creates more flow, and then they cut it in half by adding the second, stronger snare. Builds together for the chorus, the crazy shimmering over all that we've created, that we now receede. Drums and bass start it back off, drums starting off and become slightly more complex, more exciting and dense. Nice throwaway double and triple tracking for effect. It still feels organic and natural, even though that electronic wailing and sorta bright synth tone sits over everything. Great second set of vocals on the chorus, which is a tapestry of sounds in the most exciting sort of way. Awesome. Nice breakdown to violin solos, now building and mirroring each other so as to evoke...more of that natural growth, despite the fact that we've gotten so much energy. Third chorus is just ten times more badass because of this, and because of the extra vocal work going into it. Oh man, oh man, oh man. Wonderful! Great intervals on that vocal line, reminiscent of the violins. That's smart, that's friggin' smart. I love it! Keeps going, perhaps a bit less exciting, but there's a good solo over it so I don't care. Midlake is amazing, amazing. We're drowning in more synthy winthy wonderful hundred-fold intensity then further dying away into its source, grasshoppers. Oh boy that was fantastic and wonderful. LOVE.



Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter - Birds over Water

Unfolding in an arpeggio, to those violin notes flittering about the dominant, ready to resolve...wow. Evoking, pulling. Electric is simple and really fantastic, manages the same thing. Percussion moving little, but not needing to. Electric builds more, allowing the violins to really push what's going on. It's slowly, it's somewhat bluesy, but that's great. Rumbling of a snare, I think?, in the background. Nice chromatism, everything, the rhythm and the flow, rest on that guitar. But now it's secondary, jumping in with piano to frame each vocal line, adding all this drama. Vocals fit perfectly, descending and bridging those two chords. More activity on violins and guitar and piano, plus vocal harmonies, make more tension. We're almost, but not quiet, at a regular percussion, not just epic frames and throwins. Rides and snares jump in and create it. Here we are. Shit, man. Voilins create tonality, electric frames and creates rhythm and tension, resolved by the nature of the chords itself. Piano is really percussion. A really good balance and mix exists here, how amazing. Gosh. Like birds over water, such a buildup, after we've had all of this. The chords are changed to awkward counterparts, needing even more resolution and care, and the piece meets that requirement fantastically. Oh wowie. Love it, love it! How wonderful! The formula is getting old but I don't care. Acoustic is just...so damn pretty, evocative. Breaks to a solo part, she really knows what she's doing and how to achieve it. I love everything follows the path of the guitar, even though the guitar is the supported one: all of the emotion lies there, and thus brightens everything around it. How...that's just impossible. Impossibly done. Fall down on me. I can't even hear everything because I'm on this fucking plane and this is just making me feel warm inside. Fall down on me. Second solo, holding on notes and then descending, using piano to vault back up to the tonic. Each resolution to that tonic is such a sweet release of pain, like she's holding back very subtly and then bringing us home. I feel carried, loved, appreciated, welcomed in in this respect. She's speaking to me. Secondary acoustic is simple enough to really enhance everything. Such damn good use of violins. Like seriuosly, holy shit Kaz. If the rest of this pack is that good you should win a Nobel Fucking Peace Prize. I love you so much.

Stream of Consciousness First Impressions: Hiro's Pack, pt. 6

PNAU - Embrace The opening builds nicely, as that one bass/synth note arrives out of nowhere and, along with slight percussion, creates a beat out of those chords. Great beat, nice electric riff. Pacing is nice and slow. The vocals sit on that major second, creating a sort of pivot, but it's not that effective. Chorus is awesome, good high notes bringing the progression into awesome land. I do really like the beat, and it's very danceable, which is a huge merit. New synth chords, broken down bassline, and 16th notes on the hihat all create a a sense of achieving, but again...it doesn't impress me or astound me much. Nice bridge, it's a sense of restraint that hasn't been present before. Builds back up again very well, they're influenced by techno tradition without succumbing to it. Strange choice of becoming a verse after that, but it's ok. Ok third chorus is badass with the drums. I turned up the volume and it got better. A lot of their music is lines sticking around the same few notes, and using deviations from that to create material: the vocals in that one interval in the verse and the high notes on chorus; repeated bassline; that same guitar riff on the verse, and a few other things. That's where the techno part comes in for me, since that's what a lot of techno is. This song doesn't really do it for me, but it's pretty cool. It doesn't need a real hook that it comes back to, which is an achievement.

PNAU - Freedom Acoustic and echoey sorta progression is SUPER COOL. The echoes create some nice syncopated / offbeat rhythms, and the acoustic texture adds a lot to the song: each 2 measures starts rough and ends soft. It was a good decision to have the vocals be softer, and start their line towards the 2nd measure. Really good balance...and then they send this strange falling vocal line over it. Nothing else is really changing interestingly, but that vocal line does quite a lot to sustain a piece. They're so groove oriented, which is a really cool thing to be doing...nice droning in the background, but it's sort of a cheap trick to fill in the parts where the percussion cuts out. Small bits of echoes here and there do the same thing. It's great and all, but I'd prefer they invest their energy in making a bit more happen. They're great at flow, and great at groove, but the song is missing a lot for me...direction, maybe. Or a hook. Then again, it's fine how it is, moving along nicely. It's not really my thing, but it's good!

Midlake - Head Home Flute and synth! Awesome. They're dancing around each other, one repeated and one orbiting it. Great sense of build when the drums come in, but it doesn't stop there; the progression has this strange chords that don't quite resolve, giving a greater sense of growth. Nice piano, but it's a bit obnoxious once the vocals come in. Vocals are sparse and subtle enough, like the basswork, to make it interesting, while the piano forms the real bass of things. Chorus brings intro-y part back. That's some good bass work. That bass pattern feels a bit too country-style for this song, but it creates a bit of a bluesy effect. Is that a bit of Thom Yorke in the vocals? I'm starting to love the way the piano keeps driving along. Great vocal harmonies. Nice drum cutout. Their form seems to breakdown a bit, and I don't know where I am, but it's cool! Great tonalities and playing and all. They keep on building things, although the drum fills under the guitar solo might be a bit over the top. Guitar solo is a bit self-indulgent as well, but it uses held notes nicely. I just noticed the synth part on the chorus (?), it's pretty sick. I think I'll head hooooooome. Hypnotic, and notice how so much of the complexity has been reduced for clarity? They're paying really good attention. This part, with vocals and piano unison is just fantastic. Sort of a breakdown / outro that refuses to die, just keeps building and evolving. Another guitar solo which sits nicely over everything. It had to end with a fadeout, with that kind of momentum. Really nice, I'll be glad to hear this again.

The Futureheads - Hounds of Love Great, more strangeness. Oh man, that's fun and also really cool. Intersecting lines which are inverses of each other sketching chords which the guitar takes and turns into awesome. Really effective drumming. I like how the vocals just keep going over the verse part. The 3-3-2 split for drum beats doesn't really drive me, but it's growing on more. When the electric really starts humming, that's really badass. I'll take my shoes off and I will be really enjoying this stuff. The drum builds nicely, to the ride and to these much larger beats. Vocals are interesting, I like it. Great rhythm and tone. Short and really cool!

Wolf Parade - It's a Curse Yay wolf parade. Love the rising noise going into the serious drums. Piano one measure vs. dropping guitar line is very cool. Wonderful flow. Vocals are really good, using strong notes to accent the beat. Bass notes are really cool chords, grunting and driving. After the chorusish part (which is strangely loose), they mix everything a bit more. Synthy bass takes more focus, and it's awesome. I see why these guys are compared to Arcade Fire a bit, the way they build is very simple but very well thought. I'm not feeling the chorus, until oh major key stuff. Piano finally fits in nicely. Still love how the vocals drive the beat along. It just stays on the place they've gotten to...they're all about this really cool build and just making it more awesome and different and nice. Synthy stuff in the last 4 measures even, and even though I don't exactly where we went, it was really fun and I liked going there!

Peter Bjorn and John - Let's Call it Off Nice beat. Drives forth. Nice rhythm guitar, really smooth and creates a nice chord structure. It's a strange choice to have steel drum and echoey guitar mimicking their line. Very good use of drums to drive into the verse. Vocals are strange, and don't really fit in the tonality of the song. But it's exciting because of the bassline, which is nice. They throw in this great hits, just like at the beginning of the verse, and now into the chorus. I love the chorus, very nice chords. Great songwriting, it all fits together wonderfully. Great offbeats on the acoustic in the chorus, that's why I love it so. That set of three beats at the end of some drum beats really drive things forward nicely. Haha, referencing the intro with all this momentum now. It's fun, I realize; even though the verse is heavy and all, this lick is really light. And then that one part of the intro is the chorus, oh man! I'm not being too clear, but I guess suffice to say I love their tone, the way they build, and their songwriting. Good call.

My Morning Jacket - Lay Low There's a really good flow in the drum beat: the bass is at either side of it, so the middle part of it is like coming up for air. Great guitar work, setting up the rhythm, and then working a melody off of it. It's a simple, really great grove. Vocals float along, perhaps a bit out of place. Bass rounds things out, piano is cute. It took me a moment to realize what time signature or whatever. But it's polyrhythmic and cool and bright and energetic...while still maintaining a really good beat. It doesn't need to be hypercomplex, since they have such great attention to detail already. It's so damn tight. Bluesish, I guess. Rising chords at the end of the chorus are really great, supported well by drum hits. They play only as much as they need to. That's a pretty good guitar solo, actually relating to the flow of the song. The solo just goes on. Those piano chords are like...arches in a cathedral, I dunno. But the groove keeps on hopping along, getting more creative, sometimes adding doubled solos, changing drumbeats and flow. It's exciting, it's energizing. What are they going to do next? And even if the solos just go on and on, they're wonderful to listen to. Nothing about this is boring, and that's real feat.

Peter Bjorn and John - Nothing to Worry About The opening vocals are creepy but hypnotizing...took me a while to realize they're English. Nice beat to draw it off, and then they put a few sonic hits and goodies over that one groove for a few measures. And you know? That's fine. I love their pacing, they really know when to slow down. Nice bass work. Great groove, they put a lot of stress on the onbeats and it's awesome. I've got nothing to worry about just drives down to one of the drum hits...that's really exact. I love all the little stuff they throw in, it's interesting...but it's not like they're substituting for material. And behind all that, that...what's the adjective for that guitar line, wavy, wiggly? The one behind the entire song that comes in after the intro? Nice. Cuts out and only the guitar and some goodies. Short and tight and really cool.

Ratatat and The Notorious B.I.G. - Party and Bullshit Nice buildup to add in the guitar. Whole thing is a good beat, nice and syncopated, cuts out nicely. I don't really like BIG's rhyming, but I like his rhythm. Ratatat is paying a lot of great attention to the beat, so it all flows nicely. They do cool creative things with the aabaabaabaab pattern that is modern rap. I love ratatat's little touches, the tiniest cut-out riff really adds to the flow. They're really creative. BIG does great work too. All around, a good track...BIG's narrative is a bit flat, a bit stupid, and his rhyming isn't that creative, but it has its moment. But the pretty good rapping with the very good beat work make this a really good cut. Gotta love Ratatat.

Stream of Consciousness First Impression: Hiro's Pack pt. 5

Velviter - The Swimming Song I love banjos. Sufjan and Le Loup both make fantastic use of them. Good cadences on it, I like it. The bass just sorta does nothing once it comes in, but the banjo creates all continuity that's needed. Acoustic rounds things out nicely, voice just floats (lol) along. There's something...Eastern, in the way the guitars pivot around that bass note. I like the way he occasionally repeats a line, just to emphasize and cadence on it. It's not like your other stuff, at all. It hops along nicely, good fiddle solo. Hopping, that's the word. I can't say the drummer does a good job, but I like the cadence of it all. Nice tune.


The Futureheads - Worry About It Later Guitar chords, loose, go over the piano and drums, creating something...exciting...random harmonies, and now building kit. It's a loose sort of way to start a groove on a song, and even when the drums switch, it messes around on the toms. But the voice really helps create a rhythm, creating rhythms where other notes are held. Guitar work is strange but exciting. I like the use of the intro in a chorus fashion, it's exciting. The whole thing has an energy, which is so exciting since it gets pretty sparse. They're pretty exact, they have to be. It creats a precision, and like I said, an excitement. That guitar right before the chorus plays some damn strange intervals. With tambourine adds a nice touch. Um, that guitar breakdown after the chorus is just weird. They don't play there instruments in a normal...tonal sense. It's always somewhat dissonant, and the bass creates that feeling too. The drums are echoey and in the back, as in the guitar, so we follow the voices and get pushed along by the bass.The voice work is fantastic, but the actual notes that each instrument is playing are strange. It's not bad, it'll just take some getting used to. I think I like them.


The Futureheads - Favours for Favours Again, high strange guitar. Nice bassline, creates great percussive rhythm. Great drums to work with it. I like the held note by the guitar once things start escalating, compliments everything well. Part of why this group seems so floaty to me is that the recording is pretty echoey, and the songwriting is...random. It shifts interestingly, and fun...and there are great complimenting parts and strange lines, but it seems to just flop down like some sort of groovy whale on the beaches of my ears. I mean, it's groovy and all, but it's a fucking whale. Vocals in chorus section, including backup, really do it well. Bands rarely use vocals this well, I think. Great bass work, rhythm guitar too. Drums are still just sort of there, however apt they are in parts (i.e., verse/intro). Nice short songs. I like them, but they'll take a while to get used to.


Caesars - Fun and Games That's really beautiful, great use of acoustics, one melodic and one rhythmic. Stupid lyrics, and stupid bongo. Nice harmonies. Not the smoothest transition to the drum heavy part. It's...unexciting, man. Nice synth solo, but this groove does nothing for me. It's...one-dimensional. It has some good parts, I'll admit.

Kasabian - Secret Alphabets Cool, more Kasabian. Lovely dones, tonal and then just rhythmic, switching between the two to create an uncoiling feeling helped by the cymbol, and acoustic twills. That's a bass, wow! That's some great bass work. Sonically, it's a bit strange, but it's like...red dusty room. Nice vocal line, very nice; descends over the progression really elegantly. Great rhythm. Guitar bits are nice, that one sitar was nice. Later in the verse, guitar plays for a little bit on 8th notes, and fades out. They just throw wonderful things in and take them out and put other songs in, while the song goes on like a train. I like that about them. That's the same guitar part in the breakdown, then synth goes on top of it. Now electric things. They have a fantastic sense of rhythm, how to make it memorable, and the notes and lines support each other well, like that wailing synth over the unison descending synth line, with vocals and backups under that too. That's just elegant. Beautiful, orchestrated, well-though, well-executed. I really love this band!

Del tha Funkee Homosapian / Dinosaur Jr. - Missing Link Good groove, nice bassline. Screaming guitar works with the spoken word line. Ok solo...man, it's just sitting there. The two guitars are having a cool conversation, trading of lines, which I like, but it's nowhere near the front. Eh, not varied / exciting enough for me, and the production isn't great.

Caesars - Strawberry Weed That's a brilliant baseline, great use of acoustic guitar, and finally you're using the drums right. It all flows brilliantly. Nice melody over everything, it gives a similar call which we can come back to. Vocals somewhat reference it. Love the cycling strawberry weed line. Cute clapping, but they're doing a few subtle things to keep the line going: guitar bits, bits of backup vocals, and yes, clapping. It hasn't gotten boring yet. Nice harmonies, subtle but creating cool new tones on the verse. Like the synth introduced for strawberry weed part. Great bassline, still, man. Hehe, chromatic bubbly synth line there, in and out. Just cool bits. Drums get better to support the guitar + drums part, and bass and claps move it up. Great, great sense of growth there. We're back home in this riff that, unlike a lot of electropop, doesn't get repetitively irritating. A lot of the stuff you have in here borders on irritating electropop. Fun, man.


The Clientele - Bookshop Casanova Cool percussion, really tight, using both bass, guitar, and drums. There's a sense of tension, which the violins then release, in that rising and falling line. Great sense of flow, in that decision. Bassline supports everything well, violins play an atmospheric role. Vocals could do more than ride a few convenient eighth notes. Part after chorus is nice, going back to the first versish part, and now the second versish part with swelling synth. I hope they use it to create more anticipation for the chorus...which they do. Violins and bass, and drums, rise to the chorus, but then...it's just more material. It's not fundamentally different, I don't feel like I've arrived anywhere until the descending part. It's not bad, but I'd prefer something at the top of the mountain I was just carried to the top of. Nice solo. Very tight though, very beautiful and well-thought. I like it a lot, I do!


Caesars - Soul Chaser EXCITING SYNTHY STUFF WOO it's so poppy and wonderful. Vocal line creates continuity, when it goes to the minor in the verse, that's a good thing to do. Bassline does...jackshit. But the genius lies in the synth and guitar use, as well as some vocality. A million leaves are falling into vocal harmonies. Seems to get more serious the second time around for the verse. Great vocals, wow. Vocals and guitar do a great, but subtle, job on the million leaves part. It's another one of those songs that just goes to the top of a hill and goes to the bottom just to do it again, and there's a steep breakdown on the other side that you then travel up to get back to the top of the mountain and it's awesome because you've achieved something. Classy vocals + drums. I'd prefer if things were more clearly stated, as the sound and form is a bit mushy, if you know what I mean. But it's still great and fine. Now I get it, so NO MORE CAESARS.


Beck - Burro Cute unison between trumpet and...strings? Acoustic sets a great rhythm, as good as any drum. Hits by strings, and a bit of trumpet, add a lot to an otherwise silent verse. There's a symmetry in the unison line: held notes to rhythmic notes to held notes, low to high to low. His voice is fine, I guess. The echo is a good effect. He varies the acoustic nicely. It hops along. Simple and nice. Well executed, subtle in parts. Just a nice groove, in all.


East Side Boyz/OutKast/Lil Jon/Mello/Slimm Calhoun - Last Call Oh man that's a great groove just from the voice. Just...great rhythm and syllables. That's a pretty awful beat...but they play with percussion a bit, which makes it better. But the horns...ugh ugh ugh! It's made up by the voice itself. It's just...a few different artists using their techniques to make a series of very different, but each really exciting, voice lines. That's saying nothing of the rhymes themselves, which are great, if sort of meaningless. It's a fun ride, and there are moments of real genius. And end it with a guitar on that horn line. Pretty nice.

Yeasayer - 2080 oooh, nice noise. Cycling guitar line, added percussion and voices and overarching noise movements. It's exciting, it's pregnant. The drums give it a direction, and the guitar lines give it a rhythmic purpose, but this all chugs under the soaring noise. It's a great effect. Voice line is pretty good. Great basslines and guitarlines, if a bit overcomplex. Cello is classy, man. That bit of percussion on the e and a of the beat fade in and out, like a bit of the noise which has come down from the sky to play. They're great musicians, definitely. Chorus is a bit muddy, and a tad abrupt. Breakdown...where have I heard this before? Anyway, that's exciting, really exciting. Lines of...a clarinet? under that yeah! yeah! dadadadadadad etc. vocal line (nice symmetry and flow in that, like a waterfall). Did someone I know cover this? The chorus is unremarkable, which is sad. I just don't get anything out of it, but it's mostly genius in other parts. Really cool.

Stream of Consciousness First Impression: Hiro's Pack pt. 4

This is getting ridiculous. Another guy just posted a set of 69, and I still have to get to a 12 set and a 15 set. Still, this is the kind of stuff that gets me through the week. I'll use it to survive classes next week. She battles on, etc.

The Whigs - Right Hand on my Heart There's a lot of potential in that drum line. In the abstract, it's bass heavy towards the beginning and snare heavy towards the end, creating a sense of imbalance and flow, but that's a bit out there, even for me. Moreover, it's a straight-ahead I-am-going-to-fuck-shit-up kind of drum beat. Letting the guitar line sometimes rest, and sometimes play in unison with that energy, is pretty brilliant. It's flow control; how hard are we going to rock this shit? Vocals sit nicely over everything, adding another level of sound. The interverse parts are just a culmination of everything we were building up to, but within the chorus they just get glorious meaning. I'm headbanging to this, and this isn't headbang music. Even if the verse parts aren't too different, there's such a sureness that we're going to flow back into this awesome fucking place that we get to in the chorus. The irony is that within the chorus are chords meant to resolve away, down to the 1 again, making it so much deeper. That bridge / extended jam (Right hand on my heart) is all the more awesome because of that. Fills and a sick guitar solo augment all of that. Such a wonderful sense of build. It breaks down and gets just straight-ahead, just restating and re-expressing all that fabulous energy that they built up in the first 3 minutes of the song...and then it fades away to another quiet verse with that same watery verse.. May I be the first to say holy shit, because that was amazing.

Doves - Sea Song Speaking of the ocean, Doves! Lessee how they do in another context. Great rhythm and chords across those two acoustics, and the piano rounds out everything really well. I like the intro so much...and then it gets percussion and ahhhing set over it. You get drawn in, and they vary the acoustic lines and it all makes sense, because they put all that effort into building up. When it goes into the minor, the ascending progression just makes perfect sense, like we're not just cyclical any more; we're trying to reach something. there's an abrupt, but still compelling, shift from that to the vocals. That's glorious. We go through it again, and to be honest it's not as good the second time. But the extra sonic goodness is really nice, and when the second ascending part comes in, there's a greater sense of meaning, now that all this prose about the sea and these atmospheric sounds have been thrown in. But again, that abrupt switch to the intro part, which isn't a natural progression from the ascending part. Nice solo over it, it fits together nicely. I wish they weren't afraid to introduce some more complexity under the vocals, but it does give a sense of clarity. The basslines under all this are hard to hear, but they work well at creating flow: not too complex, but just varied enough. There could be more acoustic variation. Third time through the whole damn thing, a few new things, and then another strange and exciting non-resolution. It's lagging in the complexity aspect a bit, but that's ok. It's clear, it's beautiful, it's soaring like a bird over the cyclical ocean that they've created. Fades out, like...echoes in an ocean? Cute. But I really like this cut.

White Denim - I Start to Run I love the crispness of the drums and bass, and the lines fit together really well...but is something up with the tempo? Anyway, percussion fills out and that's holy shit nice. Voice soars over it, helps create connectivity and build, and then the acoustic pops in with a few hits, but I'm not really getting a sense of build. STill, the groove is just hopping along and doing really well. The extra sonic stuff around the "chorus" is a bit unnecessary, and that guitar and bass part is still really groovy, wow. They're good, but I feel like they're throwing strange things in for interest. Yeah, that solo part but now with the wakawaka texture is great and all, and I love the use of drums under it all, but it doesn't really follow from any other parts. I don't know where the hell I ended up listening, and it was a fun ride...but I really don't know what hit me.

Akron/Family - There's So Many Colors Yes yes yes, I am excited to hear another Akron/Family track. Ok ok, here we go, um. Entrancing lyrics, I like the harmonies. It goes on and on, but that's ok. It's cyclical and all. Ok, guitar finally came in, as the harmonies fall away but wow that's pretty epic. It's just shining over everything and there's some trippiness in the background. It's playing a riff referencing that lyrical line and holy shit there's more of them! They're everywhere, and now the vocals are coming back, giving it real tonality and stuff. It's unfolding right in front of me. Now real unison, over that vocal line which faded away at some point and suddenly drums! Oh man oh man oh man. Beats not exactly fitting together, but bits of energy shot off, not yet resolved, but preparing, under this high-fret guitar solo and a bit of string wailing. And now the solo is referencing that vocal riff again and now there is an acoustic guitar and tamborines and it's sexy and totally different, just grooving along in a sort of bluesy way, far away from the chaos. Is that a banjo? Shades of purpose mainly. And a bit of drums, and something about mountains and plains and pictures of environments and the exact sense of reality that the vocal line was describing before, and there's not quite a clear link between that line and this very simple but very compelling lines. Very good guitar work, good lines, the drums are just perfect perfect perfect, sitting under everything. Gets more energetic, some good lines, but not too complex or repetative. Sunrise, sunset. They keep shifting the guitar lines to be more prominent, shouting louter, sometimes taking melody, sometimes not. As they go into a solo section which flaps all over itself like a thousand walruses on speed or something, and the drums follow through. I mean, you pick up a riff and you're like holy shit that's great, and then you listen to the vocals, and you come back and it's all different. They just all fly like birds around the main progression and now it's fading away to some acoustic strangeness? Nice harmonies. We finish in the dark, totally unlike the so many colors, right? Will you go back there? That chemical mountain chaser? Why reduce it all like this, why is there all sight? Or did that already happen with those wonderful guitar lines? God shit that was amazing.

Hot Chip - Look After Me Hot damn, more Hot Chip. I was interested in seeing these guys in a different setting, and this is more loungy and quiet, maybe a bit of a Latin percussion influence. The acoustic work is a bit spotty, but that's alright. Love the drums when it comes in, a very good understated percussion line with great bass supporting it. Great bass, great bass. Interverse part is just sonically beautiful with that synth and the hihat...I am drawn in. I'm noticing everything referencing and fitting with this line, from the vocals to that strange end-of-4-measures chirping. Nice harmonies. Pizzicatastic, man. They just keep the jam going, and throw things in, but it all makes sense over the course of the song. Like, in the second verse, how the violins play a greater and greater part, and the backup vocals and that synthed buzzing become greater parts. It all is restated in this really redemptive way in the chorus, look after me and I'll look after you. Love the vibes and organ and sparse guitar in the breakdown. They can change things up and still have the same momentum as 2 minutes before. It's the opposite of the quick changes of the Akron/Family song; you're listening to a growth on the same thing for however many minutes, not just a shifting panorama centered at the same point. Beautiful. I'm sort of into these guys now.

Elbow - Mexican Standoff More Elbow, cool. You've got a lot of repeats, Hiro dear. Oh, hello, clapping and things turns 3/4 groove that is really nice. Beat is kept along really well by tambourine and open hihat hits. Really good bassline drives everything along. Great chords, great chords, and acoustics in the background filling in the spaces. Vocal line floats by. This song feels sway-ey, with everything jumping in and around and off of that sick bass line and drum bit. Nice guitar solo, there's a wonderful sense of repetition in what they do, like they know to not be too shit-crazy. Buildup is even more awesome with vocals and guitar crunching. Breaksdown with holy shit the handclaps again! That's exciting, and it makes it...eh, a bit more linear, a bit less floating. But it's exciting, ain't it, especially in that rising bassline / chord part. Oh mexican standoff, I wish I was something bah dum badum and all. Growling / singing right through everything. I just realized that the drum part got more complex to support all this. It's pretty glorious and then poof! Stops. These guys are tight and their songs are like automobiles.

Caesars - Paper Tigers 3rd Caesars cut? Echoey guitar line paralells vocal line, while rhythm electric provides support. But even those noise additions and one-note lines can't support it until we get into every single one of us: oh. That's nice, that's really nice. Well put together, drives along well. Beautiful. I still don't...get...the verse, it just doesn't fit together for me. It's not just the looseness, it just sort of sits there, and nothing mixes. But the chorus is just great. Nice unison solo line, but still...this is not one of their better cuts, I think. I like the anthemic aspect, but it's too loose. The vocal line in the chorus really lends to it, in how often it's sounding. It's relentless, that's it. But towards the end the ride comes in way too strong, and I'm getting a greater sense that this song is just a detached sum of parts. I'm not excited, man. Sorry.

Ratatat - Shempi Heard you talking about these guys, what're they like? Sonic messarounding. I like the beat. Shows how you can create a steady backbeat with no kick, and then add the kick and have it be awesome. Noise swells and trills really fit and drive it along. The wailing lines...oh man, it feels like I'm going on this escalator and things just start swooping in and taking away some of the darkness over me. Those guitar lines are cycling across channels and I love it, such great repetition, really drives it forwards. That's a brilliant synth line, so brilliant. And now they're varying the beat! You've already showed me what the other side of reality is, now you change and build the ground I stand on. My words can barely keep up with this. It's so self referencing, the structure is just glorious. And then a no-drum synth line, then with that sick minimal percussion and now bass and great chorus again. Perhaps not as cool the second time. But still, oh man. I'm not just a sucker for percussion. This is sonic glory, pure and simple. Well engineered and planned and played and put together. That's just perfect. Bongos are a bit over the top, but it's forgivable. Synth line with the cycling guitar part already there, trying to find another way to fold us into that awesomeness that is the chorus. The bongos are just one bridge to that, as are all the trills and "OH"ing. I love it, I love it, I love it! Fabulous!

Iggy Pop / Teddybears - Punk Rocker This is pretty...generic synth punky stuff. It's...I mean the parts are introduced interestingly, but everything just sits there. That really simple synth line that was in the intro, and now is in the chorus, isn't enough to create flow. There's not much...going on. Skipped the rest of it.

Wolfmother - Mind's Eye I didn't know what to expect here at all. Shining synth line, unfolding tones and guitar lines unassuming, dragging us into that descending progression, in minor key. It's so pretty. The two toms just drive it on, and then the kit and bass makes it anthemic, but with the long holds, it still feels like the beginning, organic and radiant. They're not scared to use silence or just lack of movement, it's a part of movement, I like that. Vocals are ok, not exactly fitting with the rest of it, but that's alright. Synthy anthems driven back upwards (gloriously, and reversedly) by that bass and oh my god. Nice hits, nice hits. Come and see the mind's eye. Kit makes it even more anthemic and awesome. Great hits, damn. Then fades away again. Wails, bits of sound, still pushing back into the verse that we just came down from, like the worst comedown. They don't let it sit, they're ready to hop back into that hugely anthemic, shouting, bombastic, beautiful Mind's Eye part. This rivals Queen. Uh HOLY SHIT THAT SYNTH LINE in triplets, that's how you build tension and a beat. TIGHT HITS! That's great. Tension. Preparedness. Drive. Drive. Fill. YESSS YESS YESS YESS YESS YESS YESS Oh good Carl Sagan that is wonderful. It's everything that it was in the intro, that softness back into this total fucking glory. Oh man, yes. A little wrapup looks at the intro again, and fades out. Fucking amazing. Lovely.
Hot Chip - One Pure Thought More Hot Chip, ok. More lackluster guitar work, great production...this intro pre-beat impresses me a lot less. Again, this a great beat, wonderful to dance to and to just bop along to...the I'll help you on your way part is great, though. It hits the holes in the beat just right...damn, I mean it's a great groove, but there's not much to mine here. I could dance away the hours to this...and in parts there are moments of genius, like that first part of the first chorus, and the part right before the versey part (trip I'd never want to take again), but mostly I'm not impressed, man. They can do better than this. Skipped.

M83 - Teen Angst Awesome synth start. 3-part synth line, containing these strange intervals which just set everything else up. With vocals and kick, starts unfolding. Doubled kick and snare is over the top, but I like where they got. The soaring, the tonal, and the roughly noisy all fitting together. It's a bit, dull, maybe, but then they break it down again. It's exciting, preparing for something greater. New synth lines are added in, harmonies needing to find meaning and resolve and another pretty good buildup into this nice section. I decidedly like these guys, but I wish this was a bit more exciting. Great buildup, more kick, but a different approach; just tones, and rhythm, no catalyzing factor yet, until the silence right before the buildup. That's good stuff. Exciting. They can vary the beat, the texutres, and it's all ok. The muddyness of the sound works against them, but that's ok. Still really good stuff.

Louis XIV - All the Little Pieces Love the quiet tonality, of the piano and violin and tamborine. Understated, unfolding. Hehe, nice bit when the drums come in. It's quiet, but beautiful. The voice line drives it wonderfully. Why is it focused on one channel, though? Anyway, nobody knows. There's still tension when all the little pieces come back, with the violins, and still tentative drums, very much on the . When it shifts to center...it's a bit too loud, things fade away. Not well mixed, in that I can't hear everything. They're willing to make a buildup and take it away, that's good, and then put its elements back slowly. But there's...no fitting together. The lines on their own are nice, like when the violins get more frantic. Maybe it's the earbuds, but I want to hear these guys in a different context. I could really like this, maybe a tad reminiscent of Dresden Dolls in approach, or p'raps Rasputina. But this wasn't that great, sort of strange and floaty in its own world. No credit for artsy endings, either. Only Amanda can do that.

Mando Diao - Ringing Bells Another one, ok. The guy does great guitar work. Everything, all of the echoey parts, are contained nicely by the clear vocals and drum line. Acoustic line helps, that very slight rhythm electric muds things up. Nice shaker, sets it along nicely. Bassline is faint, but good I guess. This goes a few places, but doesn't excited me much. He does a great thing, but it's not my thing.

Flaming Lips - The Gash Fantastically amazing song is fantastically amazing, let me just leave it on so I can fangirl about it. The opening chords sketch the rest of the song (awesome descending line), just in minor modes. Wall of sound, vocal destruction and apocalypse comes down to one jaunty piano line. One of the best drum grooves I've ever heard in my life sits under the immense power of that voice. They know just when to put in those hits to drive everything forward. Such a powerful line, like a grand fucking church to awesomeness. Guitar hits frame it like a painting of said church. Drums make it awesome like the best fucking building which is hopping up and down because of the energy. When the solo line comes in, tension and unsurety arrives...can we really stick with all this glory? Is it ok? YEAH! Violins frame everything. Keep an eye on the piano, friends, for that is the key to the entire piece. I love the way the chords just pop along. And that wall of voices is so damn tight, and versatile. Battles on, battles on. And then...piano chord over ok awesome yes bye

Stream of Consciousness First Impression: Hiro's Pack pt. 3

White Rabbits - The Plot Great energy, great chords, great use of rhythm on the vocals. I feel drawn into their energy, they're good at there. Piano is a strange aspect, but it works. I was worried if the chorus / culmination of the buildup would be worthwhile, but they did a great job of it. They kept up the beat while shifting the instruments, which is the only way you can use that kind of rhythm. Going to half-time would be stupid...anyway, love the bass work, harmonies are really nice. He's not impressed! Second chorus: doesn't really change things up, but you still get a great feeling, because you recognize material from the last chorus, and then the claps, and then a sick breakdown. This is really good songwriting, but also really good thoughts on how to create a beat. It's a great cut here. He's not impressed...but she is. Great great great great great stuff.

Thurston Moore - The Shape is in a Trance Really, really beautiful chords. Very precise acoustic work. Drums are sort of an afterthought, but they do their job. Violins compliment very well...they're really arranged, not just placed there. The drums...are sort of irritating me. They're trying to act as a bridge between the opening and verse parts, but they aren't...fitting. I dunno, this is just me. Beautiful chorus. I'm...getting it now. The drums can fit, it's more of a balance issue. They do fit. It's simple in its parts, and it doesn't make any attempts to soar extra-far for the chorus parts, or really change material. But the acoustic does its work, and everything pivots around that. It's not active listening for me, but it's very pretty, and very well done. Um...electric guitar solo! Ok. That's, um...actually, not so bad, even though it's going on forever. Definitely worth another look, this man.

Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream Yessss, another chance to look at these guys. I was hoping that they'd be more...interesting, and not just have a great sound and great production. Great use of beat, almost disco/funk-like. Great use of voice. We are always running for the thrill of it...the chorus is really brilliant. They're not actively engaging, and in some ways they just sit back on their fantastic grooves. But that's ok! That's really ok here. They do it quite well. Nice buildup towards the end...they really are creative musicians!

The Ponys - Double Vision Punkish straight ahead alt rock, with a healthy touch of reverb. I really, really like the basslines, and not much else. It's not bad, but it's pretty derivative...it gets better, lessee. I'm getting more into it...oh, when the hihat comes in, it's pretty sick. Pretty good, but it's not my thing. I've heard crazier punk and better alt-rock.

Elbow - Fugitive Motel Sweet, more Elbow. Um, I'm liking the chords. They're well detached in terms of rhythm too...it just bleeds decrepitude and distance. The vocals work into it...I love the soft hits, over the bass and drums. But they really know how to swell, damn. Good use of harmony, great use of chords from the intro. Such tenderness to it, really. Great use of violins, both atmospherically and melodically. They help in shaping the epic scope of the chorus, which really does work! I got a bit of a chill, there. Nice bridge. Fades out nicely. Really good cut, these guys are geniuses. Um...vocal thingie at the end? Like a mixture of a harmonica and a voice. That's cool, man. That's cool.

Outkast - Atliens That's a good beat there. Uh, a bit silly use of words ("polar bear's toenails" ?), but the bass and drums is just sick. Great atmospheric stuff behind it behind these really good use of lyrics. I'm listening less to the words, and to their quality: their rhythm, when he double-tracks them, etc. I'm missing out, it's true. From what I do hear, he's a bit...wrapped up in himself. He's not really talking about anything. For rap, I really prefer more...substance, I guess (see Subtle, Nas, Tech N9ne, Cunninlynguists, etc. ) But it's not bad, by any means.

Flaming Lips - Sound of Failure Strange choice for a lips song. Not a bad song by any means, but nowhere near my favorite on At War with the Mystics. Vein of Stars was sick on record, and sick live. But this is still a really good cut. I know I love it. This reminds me, I gotta pick up Embryonic.

Ween - Transdermal Celebration I've heard Detachable Penis, and I guess that's not all of what they do. But I don't see a lot of originality. The basslines and rhythm guitar lines are really great, but I don't have much to say about this. It's not my thing. I skipped past the rest of it.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Ain't No Easy Way Nice blues acoustic. Good octaves...great use of drums to frame it. Wonderful groove, I love it. Nice chorus, that's really creative. Holy shit, and then the harmonica and extra hits, all with those acoustics going. This is fantastic, it really is. It's blues with a rock pacing, or maybe rock with a bluesy feel...either way, it's really good. Really creative and even artful, but most of all it's a great groove and great sound. It doesn't get fatiguing at all...although it is short. I really really like it.

Kasabian - Fast Ruse You sure like Kasbian, don't you Hiro. Good chords, nice texture for the opening, going into sort of ok grooves (like before). But the guitar work is really good. They really fill out the song, then add the vocals and the aaaahhhhhing. First verse is sick that way...and then why cut all that out? Why? I mean, the other parts are still good, but I don't know why you would do that. You had such great energy. But then there's a chorusy breakdown and another buildup, and it just keeps chugging on. I'm not the biggest fans of what they do...I don't think their songwriting is always that great. But they do a really good job here. Tick, tick, tock! That's energy, there. Lightning in the skyyyy. Really good groove to it. Dance and spirit to it.