Random Rules, Just Married Edition

1. Morrissey-Alma Matters

Probably the best track off of Moz’s somewhat average 1997 Maladjusted album. That being said, there are still a lot of excellent tunes on it—it’s just that the filler tracks are reallly filler-y.

2. Britney Spears-Gimme More

It’s Britney, bitch!  I don’t think Brit has put out a stone-cold solid album yet, but that’s not the sort of “artist” she is. She’s a cipher really, merely a conduit for the songs and production work of genuinely creative people. Kind of like how a steak is a really lame piece of meat without a sauce of some kind.

3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Softshock

This latest YYY’s album was a nice surprise. Each successive album they release is more and more cohesive, and I was struck by the similarities between this one and concurrent Metric release Fantasies. It’s difficult to articulate why, but the two albums really have a Beatles vs. Stones, Blur vs. Oasis kind of vibe, not in a rivalry sense, but in how these two relatively evenly-matched groups sysnthesize their influences and interpret their chosen sub-genre’s musical conventions. The YYY’s are fuzzier, grittier, and rougher around the edges while retaining enough of a pop sensibility to get on radio and be popular with the kids (a la the Stones), and Metric is all about the gloss, even when they stretch out into more avant-garde territory in terms of song construction (a la the Beatles).

4. The Verve-The Drugs Don’t Work

The further away 1997 appears in the rear view mirror of my life, the more saccharine the production of  Urban Hymns becomes. Still a nice tune, just a bit cloying if you’re not in the right frame of mind to hear it.

5. INXS-I Need You Tonight

Hahaha, OK, so, this song, for whatever reason, has become completely intertwined with the word “striptease” in my mind. There’s something very sexy about it, but in that very superficial, plastic sense that 80s sexuality possessed within the mainstream. Once grunge (and subsequently “modern rock”) entered into the equation in the early 1990’s, you had an altogether dirtier well of musical “inspiration” to draw from as a sex worker. Less Patrick Nagel, more Michael Turner. Compared contextually, ‘I Need You Tonight’ is positively oozing with innocence!

6. Speed McQueen-I’m In Love With

One drawback of the alternative boom of the early to mid 90s (there were many, but that’s a long discussion for another post) was the glut of indie labels that sprung up, were bought out my majors, and then shat out in the form of a tax write-off. A lot of promising bands couldn’t survive the constant upheaval, which is a shame, and everyone’s loss. One such group was New York’s Speed McQueen, who put out one very solid full-length before getting got by the powers-that-be. Protect ya neck, little bands that could!

7. Blur-On The Way To The Club

A stand-out cut from Blur’s underrated Think Tank, this is a weird song, because the band basically sabotage what could have been a really odd-but-beautiful single by only going through the “chorus” only twice, and then fading out into a strange dub coda. It reminds me a lot of their song “Death of a Party”, but without the sinister overtones.

8. The Jam-Every Little Bit Hurts

A nice, if lightweight, rarity from the band who built a career on mining 60s R&B and soul music and running it through a punk blender. Paul Weller’s voice isn’t quite up to the task of matching the nuance of the Brenda Holloway original, but he gets some points for feeling (he was totally closing his eyes when he recorded this.)

9. Portastatic-I Wanna Know Girls

Perfect. Pop. Song.

10. Tom Petty-You Wreck Me

Such a great driving song, off Tom’s second solo joint. So many people I’ve met over the years usually have two Tom Petty CD’s: The 1993 Greatest Hits compilation, and Wildflowers. Which stands to reason, as those are unequivocally his two strongest discs, top to bottom.

Random Rules: 12/10/08

1. Broken Social Scene: “7/4 ((Shoreline))”

For a pretty steadfast consumer of “indie” music, I really took my sweet time coming around on BSS. Part of the problem is the inherent flaws of this age of digital music consumption; my first impressions of the collective were colored by the fact that I was trying to gauge whether or not I liked them based on 30-second soundclips, and while this is generally enough time to hear at least one verse, chorus, and a handful of hooks in the average Britney Spears single, regardless of at what point in the song the clip starts at, this model doesn’t really work for a more free-form group of musicians like BSS. So I finally took the opportunity to give whole songs a listen a little over a year ago after being pleasantly surprised by head BSS-er Kevin Drew’s solo album Spirit If… in my local record shop. While roughly 50-70% of the tracks on all BSS albums proper are still a little too meandering and amelodic for my tastes, they do have a handful of gems, including this one.

2. The Jesus & Mary Chain: “Walk And Crawl”

This track is one of the b-sides/rarities recently compiled on the box set The Power of Negative Thinking. Beyond that, there’s not much else to say; it’s a JaMC track. Lots of feedback, a simple, undeniable melody, and some vaguely sinister lyrics about drugs/sex/violence, buzzing by in under three minutes.

3. Wilco: “Pot Kettle Black”

A deep cut from their famously rejected Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album. It’s pretty straightforward, and relatively no-frills…could be justifiably mistaken for a Summerteeth b-side, but with less pristine production. Reminds me of The Cure’s “In-Between Days” for some reason.

4. Kaiser Chiefs: “Everyday I Love You Less and Less”

One of the two strongest tracks off debut disc Employment (the other being “I Predict a Riot”.) Big comparisons made between these guys and Blur when this album came out. I can definitely see the similarity, but this is 100% artifice (not that Blur were particularly “authentic”) and sounds like a deep cut off Parklife or The Great Escape; it’s inherently catchier than anything off of Modern Life is Rubbish, if only because Blur had grown more accomplished at their craft, but still not close to the level of an iconic track like “The Universal” or “Girls & Boys”. As much as I’d like to believe Kaiser Chiefs have a classic album, or even classic single in them, I just don’t feel like they do.

5. The Smiths: “Stretch Out and Wait”

A very flimsy, tossed-off b-side that somehow is still better than 99.999% of anything anyone else has ever produced in pop. It’s a lighthearted exhortation to forget one’s cares, because the end is nigh, but it’s presented in such a sprightly package that it’s hard not to want to hop in a hammock with a cup of tea and wait for the bomb to drop.

6. My Bloody Valentine: “When You Sleep”

Probably the most “accessible” track off of the epic Loveless album. Somewhere, in an alternate universe, this is held in the same regard as “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.

7. The Walkmen: “Long Time Ahead of Us”

This year’s You & Me album was a pleasant surprise. It’s a return to form after the flat and tuneless A Hundred Miles Off. There’s a lot of quaint romanticism on this album, perfectly reflected in the art that graces the sleeve, depicting the false innocence of a by-gone age that we all know was never innocent at all, but that we can’t help but feel wistfully nostalgic for.

8. Husker Du: “Everything Falls Apart”

As much as I love this (and many other) Husker Du songs, all I can hear usually is the lack of discernible low-end. These guys were post-punk White Stripes before the White Stripes even existed, but they actually had a bass player!

9. The Meeting Places: “Turned Over”

One of those perpetually unfashionable “nu-gaze” bands that never seems able to expand their fanbase beyond people waiting around for that Slowdive reunion that will never come. It’s dreamy pop, with lots of layered, effect-laden guitars, but you can actually tell what’s being sung!

10. The National: “Slow Show”

A great song from an album chock full of them. Every time I listen to these guys, all I seem to focus on is the drumming. It’s just so integral to the success of The National’s tunes, not merely setting the pace, but really coloring and adding depth to what are seemingly simple songs. And of course, Matt Berninger’s voice is up there in the phone book pantheon*.

*Meaning, I’d listen to him sing the phone book without complaint. Others include Richard Hawley, Evan Dando, Mark Lanegan.

(Re:)discovery

As onerous as it can be sifting through the admittedly dense pile of crap available through mp3 subscription service eMusic, it can still ocassionally reward you with some true gems. Every few months, they try to entice me back into the fold with a ton of free downloads, and while it can be challenging, it gives me a chance to either check out new stuff that I’m iffy about purchasing in CD form, or rediscovering songs from the past that for one reason or another I never liked enough to own, but now are much more appealing.

By appealing, I mean cheap.

By cheap, I mean free.

First up: LA “punk” band Face to Face.

I vividly remember hearing this song on the local radio station back in high school, and immediately thinking how catchy it was. But every time I went into the store to buy it, something else took precedence, and eventually I got over it. But it popped into my brain again recently, and I made a mental note to check eMusic the next time they offered me free downloads. And here we are. There is absolutely nothing interesting or ground-breaking about this song. But when you’re 16 and live in the suburbs with no exposure to indie or college rock, this was about as cutting-edge as things got.

Next: Canadian power-poppers Limblifter

After my first failed foray into college life, I landed back in Herndon, VA living in my parents’ house and taking classes at the local community college. One of the few fun things I had to do to pass the time with all of my friends away at “real” college was watching the pre-recorded feed of Canada’s MuchMusic on a local public television station, where I learned all about Sloan, Gob, Matthew Good Band, and other late-90s/early aughts Canadian musical “luminaries”.

Despite originating from Canada, this song has a bright, metallic sound that evokes images of southern California more than the  shores of Nova Scotia.

Finally: Triple Fast Action

I actually discovered these guys tangentially because after they broke up, their bassist Kevin Tihista went solo, performing under the moniker Kevin Tihista’s Red Terror. The first single of his solo debut, ‘Lose The Dress’, appeared on a CMJ sampler back in 2001/2002, and piqued my interest.

When I found out he’d been in a power-pop-punk band previously, I was desperate to get a listen. Only problem was, they were only regionally successful, and the label(s) their albums were released on weren’t widely available by the time I discovered them. So this last time out with eMusic, I figured I’d give it a shot, and sure enough, there they were.

Shopping-The Jam

I’ve recently been re-discovering my love for The Jam. For those that don’t know, The Jam were essentially the biggest punk band in the UK (back when punk “happened”). Yes, bigger than The Clash, The Sex Pistols, everybody. The trio centered around vocalist/guitarist Paul Weller, and traded in an amped-up version of the mod sounds of mid-60s London, Weller’s two main songwriting influences at the time being Ray Davies of The Kinks and Pete Townshend of The Who. However, by the time they broke up in 1982, Weller had successfully integrated the best elements of disco, pop, R&B and soul into the band’s sound. A single b-side from around the time of the band’s swansong, The Gift, ‘Shopping’ is a fantastic testament to just how far he’d come, both as a songwriter, melodicist, and synthesizer of styles.

The song is essentially a musical re-working of Charles Mingus’ classic ‘Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat’. Lyrically, the song deals with the frustration of trying to become (and subsequently stay) fashionable. Taken at face value, the boredom and exasperation of walking from shop window to shop window in search of the perfect ensemble and accoutrements is clever, but not particularly interesting. However, in the context of when the song was written, as Weller was struggling with the decision to continue making gobs of money fronting what was by then one of the most successful pop acts in the UK (only Queen and The Police were bigger) or to divest himself of the responsibility of remaining fashionable in the eyes of his fans and critics and stretch out even further musically, there’s a lot of conflict and soul-searching here. And the best part of the song is the playing; Weller and bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler don’t sound like amateurish punks aping jazz stylings–they sound like jazz pros aping pop structure.

While ‘Shopping’ isn’t really indicative of The Jam’s overall style, it’s an intriguing curio and the perfect b-side: it exemplifies creative exploration paired with pop precision, and is a great supplement to the latter-day albums in the band’s catalog.