My favorite band.

The one and only. Apparently they are headed to SXSW 2012. I will be there....Stay tuned.

It's Blitz! It's Absurd!!

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' third proper album was released March 2009 to little fanfare. I love this band. That notwithstanding, back in March, I decided to write about this particular record, as I encountered each song, as objectively as possible. With this band, objectivity is a feat of which I am not entirely capable. Either way, here it is, a track-by-track review of a good record by a great band.

Track 1: “Zero”

The first track, and potential massive radio hit, fronts a propulsive yet stagnant, Jacob’s ladder rhythm with metronomic synthesizers (!) and a Blondie-esque layer of noise. The first verse pauses dramatically with room to spare and launches into a heavy narrative that can’t help but coalesce into a entrancing crescendo. As good as it sounds it ends up sounding a bit ostentatious. Okay, very ostentatious.

Track 2: “Heads Will Roll”

Singer Karen O, sounding like a sexy tyrant here, promises an apocalyptic downtown scene, “dripping with alchemy”, if you don’t do as she says. Alchemy, folks, is the philosophical search for ultimate wisdom and immortality. The lyrics command that you dance yourself to your death in utter ecstasy. The music, on the other hand, says that you should do cocaine with a stranger and blow someone in exchange for said cocaine. This track is high on style but a clear weak point of the album.

Track 3: “Soft Shock”

There is more synth here that layers a placid pipe dream with a very ghostly coda. “Leave me,” Karen cracks, almost daring us to doubt her. This song displays a stark contrast to the first two tracks in that it displays an unmistakable, sing-songy humanity. “Soft Shock” is contemplative and somewhat honest in the same vein of the Clash’s “Lost in the Supermarket”.

Track 4: “Skeletons”

One of a couple of lullabies on the record, this one that can best be described as having an eerie ceiling fan pattern. This could possibly be a companion piece to “Soft Shock”. Instead of daring us to leave her, now she is just plain leaving. “Love left dry/love, don’t cry/skeleton me,” would be distinctly at home in the end credits of a sweeping love story, not to mention that it has a similar aesthetic to, of all things, “Free Bird”. While it’s pretty damned good on its’ own, with its loose cadence and hip-shaking underbelly, the song is begging to be remixed and mashed up into a dance floor dirge. But as an open-air composition it breathes like a limbo. What it really needs, what it waits for, longs for, is a “Phenomenon”-like breakdown somewhere near the end of its build up (See 2006’s “Show Your Bones” for further reference).

Track 5: “Dull Life”

The band speaks here of simple mistakes and a famous Greek aphorism. According to the band, “Know thyself” is the credo that frees you from a “Dull Life”. Lies, beasts, nightmares, a long life capped with iron bars…these are the hallmarks of the title’s namesake. The guitar takes a backseat here during the verses but it stays lockstep with the vocals almost throughout, syllable by syllable. Karen’s angular vocals take center stage, mimicking a life-support heart monitor, or perhaps a vigorous flogging. This, the most rock-oriented song on the record, is on a mission: hit bottom and the truth shall be revealed. It’s also a bit of a barn-burner with Karen yarling about a life more ordinary. When she preaches, “Know myself”, it comes out like she’s teaching the mirror to “Know my soul”. But really, what’s the difference?

Track 6: “Shame and Fortune”

And then there’s a duel. The band squares off with each other here, or maybe with the whole world, to argue about…something. A bit pedestrian at the start, the nucleus of this tune spreads like a cancer; it is a landscape that sounds forbidding and forbidden. The message: shame is a mirage while all fortune is temporary. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to mean; maybe just to get back on the dance floor. Or back to the cocaine. Or neither.

Track 7: “Runaway”

Beginning with a lonely piano introduction and a mantra (“Don’t keep looking back/I always flew by/Run, run away/No sense of time/I’d like you to stay/Like to keep you inside”), “Runaway” sounds like a cautionary tale. Karen O’s vocals are simply angelic here. She is still composing within a plane of late night harangues and early morning escapes. For everyone but her, this may not be a bad thing.

This track is a burgeoning last stand with a meandering bridge and a pleading, desperate tone.

As Karen sings, “Not that strong…” over and over I can’t help but feel this would have been more useful as a closing track. But it doesn’t matter. Even as a stand-alone, this song is the most vulnerable, and by that device it is the most tender. It evokes what is beautiful and alone in all of us. Oh alright…MOST of us.

Track 8: “Dragon Queen”

“My mouth/you’re touchin’/your mouth/is runnin’” takes us back to the bathroom with the coke, and perhaps, back to the early eighties. What is it about Karen’s vocals that make her moaning tolerable? This is more Olivia Newton John than Blondie.

Track 9: “Hysteric”

Here is where, despite the quality of the album as a whole, the ponderousness becomes a bit nauseating; albeit, this is where the narrative comes to its inevitable, romantic conclusion. The “Karen” character becomes aware that she is incomplete and reaches out with, “Flow sweetly/hang heavy,” before confessing, “You, suddenly, complete me”.

No telling if the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s are making fun of us here. File this under Simple Minds.

Track 10: “Little Shadow”

It doesn’t matter at this point. You either die alone, or you don’t. Maybe it didn’t work out betwixt “Karen” and whoever. All things considered, this is a lonely yet hopeful epilogue, with Karen, or “Karen”, questioning someone. Maybe you. “Will you follow me?” she asks.

It’s probably a good idea to follow. Who knows what comes next?

And so on.

Maxims, Partis Unum

1) Whatever is important to you should be obvious to others. Friendships, passions, hobbies – whatever it is, own it.

2) Passive aggression is ineffective. Further, it is toxic and stupid. Have the fortitude to be direct.

3) Know when to move on. This isn’t your first rodeo. You know when it’s good for you and you know when it’s not. Leave before it’s obvious.

4) Always stick to a commitment for as long as it makes sense. If it stops making sense, stop making so many commitments.

5) Keep it simple. Not to be obvious or clichéd but, what you own ends up owning you, and so forth. Most of what you own, most of what you pretend to be, can be thrown away and forgotten in a week. It’s the 10% that makes you who you are (see #1).

6) “What you fear the most will meet you halfway” (Victoria Williams). So, the lesson is: drop some of your fears.

7) Freedom and autonomy are not mutually exclusive, but they are different. Doing whatever you want and being able to do whatever you want are not the same thing. The ability is paramount. Actions are virtually meaningless in some regard.

8) Friendship is not disposable. It is necessary. The moment you decide it is a replaceable commodity is the moment you have decided you know everything. You do not.

9) Love is rarely found in romanticism. It is not in movies or candlelit dinners. It is not a subservience to another, nor is it an undying commitment subject to timing, location, or words. It is, at the very least, empathy, warmth, and beyond that, I have no idea. Yet.

10) Not all art is good, yet all art serves as evidence toward what is. Even “bad” art reminds us what is so “good” about the music, film, literature, and images that are “great”.

11) Socrates was right! As soon as you start to act and think that you know it all is the exact, pivotal moment when you cease to learn and adapt.

Why 1998 Should Have Gotten You Laid

One of my literary idols is a man named Chuck Klosterman. I've been reading his stuff for over a year, and I've found it to be so easy to read and so easy to relate to his personal narratives, that it almost makes me feel guilty. His specialty is pop culture, which is, I suppose, why I tend to feel guilty, er, shallow, about enjoying some of his stuff. There is a decent Q&A about him here: http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a752.asp

He used to have a monthly column in SPIN magazine, and it was really the only reason I subscribed to the rag.

Klosterman's column this month focuses on a particular issue of SPIN that was published in the year 1998. He ‘spins’ a narrative, as he is known to do, about how during the year in question, he feels as though music didn't exist. That is, GOOD music didn't exist. He goes on to mention Marilyn Manson, who, in 1998, was at the top of his/their game, with “Mechanical Animals” and its' mega-single, ‘The Dope Show’. This was looked on as sexy by some at the time. I doubt that perspective would be entertained today. But you never know.

Anyway, as is my custom, I read the aforementioned article whilst taking part deux of my bi-daily bowel movements. Generally I take great joy in relating to, connecting with, and generally celebrating Klostermans witty insights. However, the particular year in question got me to thinking.

1998 was absolutely interesting. It wasn’t a pretty year - that much is for sure. The Spice Girls were busy demolishing any semblance of feminism in the western world at the time and the Backstreet Boys were helping make a serious comeback for limp-dick boy band tunes that were expressly tailored to acquire baby-sitting money. Also, nu-metal bands like Limp Bizkit were making a serious blitzkrieg for hard-cock boy bands that played a bit louder.

And it all seemed like a joke.

I remember seeing the Spice Girls on the cover of Rolling Stone and thinking, “Jesus, this joke has gone far ENOUGH!” I was twenty years old. Naiveté is tolerable at that age, yes?

But the joke had no audience. There was no one laughing. While Spice Girl fans were living in their Spice World and Backstreet Boys fans were soaking up the glory of theBackstreets (whatever that was), the rest of us were waiting for the punch line that never arrived.

…which brings me back to Marilyn Manson. MM was making a divergent turn in 19998; from serial, dirty pseudo-satanic shock rocker to serial, slightly cleaner, Bowie-esque, pseudo-Satanic shock rocker. The difference being, as far as I can tell, was that MM was sporting a not-so-subtle package in his newly androgynous body sock. This seems so counterintuitive to what was happening in the culture at the time. Anyhow, this all comes back to my inner monologue whilst reading my somewhat favorite author, Mr. Chuck Klosterman.

1998 was an awesome year, but not overtly. Of course it would be hard to feel completely assured about a year that came AFTER 1997's “OK Computer” - obviously. But personally (and isn’t that how it usually is? Sure, 1990 SUCKED, but that was the year I discovered the Minutemen!) I discovered music in 1998 that was so incredibly heavy, so different and new that I still listen with astonishment, dread and awe to this day.

Case in point… Sure I was enamored with the last proper album (and accompanying tour) of A Tribe Called Quest's “The Love Movement”, and there was 16 Horsepowers’ “Low Estate” bringing home the creepy bluegrass/deliverance vibe. There was also a strange band called 50 Tons of Black Terror with their “Demeter” that reminded me to fuck all and let the booze take over.

Don’t get me wrong! There was a LOT of pedestrian music going on as well. Tori Amos shat out “From the Choirgirl Hotel” like it was written in her sleep. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion released “Acme,” and all the critics creamed their jeans, even though the record itself was starkly populated with serious rock n roll. Girls Against Boys put forth their one and only major label release, entitled, apropos for the times, “Freak*On*ica”.

But none of that mattered, even though all those records now reside, permanently, on my hard drive.

I’ll tell you what mattered.

Jawbox released their final release/retrospective/live document “My Scrapbook of Fatal Accidents”, which included, thankfully, their cover of the Buzzcocks “Airwaves Dream”. The ever-idiosyncratic Soul Coughing released their swan song, “El Oso”, which remains some of the best white boy funk that ever was recorded. And the extremely underrated group Far released their “Water & Solutions”, which ended up being way, way, way ahead of their time; and to this day it makes their influenced brethren such as The Used, Fall Out Boy, and who knows who else, look completely transparent and one-dimensional.

That isn’t enough? Why is it I have to be the one to remind you that 1998 was the year that Jarvis Cocker released Pulp's “This is Hardcore”?? Or that 1998 was the 12 month span that gave us the avant pop that became the soundtrack for all of your future breakups... none other than Mercury Rev's “Deserters Songs”.

Okay, I get it: you’ve never heard of this shit!!

But as I assure you that “Deserter's Songs” is both haunting and intimate and FUCKING BRILLIANT, I will concede that it has absolutely nothing on the one record that was released during this year that my hero Klosterman decided to blank out on. In the year 1998 C.E., the best sex album ever was released.

And, no, that album is not something predictable like D’Angelo, or even something less predictable yet still delicious such as the Afghan Whigs “1965”. Oh no! And if you have never heard this album, you must, by any means necessary, you must, I say you MUST go buy this album, take it to your nearest lover and perform perfunctory sexual advances to its' serenation immediately!!!!

1998 was the year that an album entitled “Mezzanine” was released by a group calling themselves Massive Attack. Massive Attack are the godfathers of trip-hop, and of course influenced those other secondary, yet quite worthy groups such as Portishead, Mono and Sia.

But I’m telling you, “Mezzanine” is reason enough to reject Mr. Klosterman's assertion that 1998 is a forgettable year for music; even if it is for such a shallow motive as getting laid. Trust me, if it comes down to the Spice Girls versus Massive Attack, “Mezzanine” is getting laid tonight.