Punk’s not dead. It’s just been hiding in Denmark, where four teenagers found it in the streets of Copenhagen in 2008 and unleashed its fury back upon the world.
Record #229: Built To Spill – Keep It Like A Secret (1998)
As a snot nosed fourteen year old, I had a discman with the Ataris’ End is Forever album set to “repeat all.”
On this album was the song “Mixtape,” which featured the lyric, “there was Jawbreaker and Armchair Martian / Built to Spill and the Descendants.” Amazing as it may seem, through my years of trolling through CDs thank you notes to find new bands, this litany somehow escaped me until recently.
Hipster music junkie that I am, I somehow didn’t listen to Built to Spill until just this summer (and I still haven’t spent much time with Jawbreaker).
And the loss was all mine.
Years I have wasted, unaware of some of the most blissful guitar rock ever churned out by three human beings with recording equipment. Decades spent deaf to the sweet melodies of “Carry the Zero,” the max-capacity riffs of “The Plan,” the gentle softness of “Else,” the classic rock homage that is “You Were Right.” Years of my life spent depriving myself of the biggest guitars and sing alongiest pop songs 90s indie rock had to offer.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to send a note saying “BUILT TO SPILL” back in time to 9th grade me.
Record #228: Fugazi – Steady Diet of Nothing (1991)
On their second full length, Fugazi decided to keep control of the boards to themselves. The way they tell the story, none of them wanted to offend any of their bandmates by turning their parts down or suggesting second takes, resulting in a very democratic mix and a very safe album.
Record #227: Foals – Holy Fires (2013)
You would be forgiven for dismissing Foals if your only exposure to this album is the single My Number. It’s fun, catchy, and not too terribly distinct from any of the other dancy post-punk revival tracks to be released in the past ten years from Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, Phoenix and the rest of their ilk. Palm muted guitar lines play against ragged start-stop chord hits over a tight snare beat and background “woo-oo-oo”s. Although there are some nice atsmopherics on the lead guitar in certain sections.
Nice single, but the rest of the album probably isn’t much to write home about.
“Not so!” says Bad Habit, the second single, which trades club-calling and dance beats for spiritual introspection and pleas for forgiveness. Continue reading
Record #226: James Taylor – …and the Original Flying Machine (1966, 1971)
Before James Taylor found widespread success with 1970’s Sweet Baby James (one of my favorite singer-songwriter albums ever), he was in a struggling band called The Flying Machine. The Flying Machine recorded seven songs in 1967, which they felt was only demo quality. Night Owl and Brighten Your Night with My Day were released as a double-sided single, which failed to gain traction, and they decided not to pursue a full length album. However, when Taylor’s breakthrough created the demand for it, Euphoria Records released the sessions as a quick cash in on his sudden popularity (to the chagrin of the other band members, who saw it for the cashgrab it was).
Record #225: James Brown – …plays James Brown, Today & Yesterday (1965)
No one disputes that James Brown is the Godfather of Soul. His legacy needs no summary here. But when you take him from the microphone and put him behind an organ, his songs lose a bit of their charisma. There might be some fine playing here, but ultimately there’s nothing that stands out the way his vocal performances do. Which is sad.
Record #224: James Blake – James Blake (2011)
It is my understanding that the term “dubstep” means different things depending on what side of the Atlantic you’re on. Stateside, it means the sort of bro-friendly, attention deficient, robot-sex music that’s made its way into car commercials and cheap summer movie soundtracks. In Britian, however, dubstep is a little more subtle–shifting textures over time, setting grooves and resting in them, forming a subset of electronic music much more suited for a late night drive than a trailer for the new Transformers movie.
Record #223: Jackson 5 – ABC (1970)
It is not difficult to argue that the Jackson 5 were a novelty act. But it’s almost impossible to dismiss them as a such. Sure, the lead single’s target audience doesn’t seem to be much older than Michael’s own twelve years, and yeah, all of their originals (four of the twelve tracks) were written by a Motown Records production team dubbed The Corporation (not very punk rock) that was tailor made to write songs for the Jackson 5, but I defy anyone to tell me that they weren’t some of the best performers the world has ever seen.
Record #222: Islands – Return to the Sea (2006)
It might be important to know about the Unicorns to fully appreciate Islands (pretty much the same band). But then again, it might not. While the Unicorns’ Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone? was a masterpiece of childish lo-fi indie pop rife with cheap keyboards and drum machines, Return to the Sea is much grander in scope.
Record #221: Frank Sinatra – The Voice (1955)
Before he was the world famous crooner Frank Sinatra, he was just Frank Sinatra, crooner. And in this ‘55 compilation of early singles, he sounds just as naive as he looks on the cover.