Playing Catch-Up: Part XVII

Artist: Feist
Album: ‘Pleasure‘
Year: 2017

There is something uniquely intimate about this album. It has an acoustic sound that is soft and warm but also challenges you to lean in and truly experience the music. The songs are personal without being unnerving and that speaks volumes in a musical culture that seems to invite every artist to reveal as much as possible in order to sell. Feist’s willingness to show her vulnerabilities without giving up her power and respect makes this a very powerful listen.

Track of Distinction: “I Wish I Didn’t Miss You” and its love-lost libretto cuts to the bone and asks for more blood.

Artist: Katy Perry
Album: ‘Witness‘
Year: 2017

All I could think of while listening to this album is that I fell for it again. I came in hoping that Perry had grown as an artist and this might be a stepping stone to her to finally unleash her voice and free it from the auto-tuned and overproduced bullshit she keeps putting out every couple of years. But what did I get? More of the same bullshit. I’d be more pissed but I’ve never been a huge fan.

Track of Distinction: Her ballads allow her vocals to take the lead and “Miss You More” is a pretty damn good example of it.

Artist: Rancid
Album: ‘Trouble Maker‘
Year: 2017

Nine albums later and Rancid is still slaying it like it’s their first. This entire album screams like they still have a chip on their shoulder and they’re going to get this album out there even if they have to borrow someone’s computer to burn all of the CDs themselves. The edge is honed and intact, the rage and disdain for the system is still there, and it just exudes that sublime noise that Rancid fans have come to love and expect. Mad props for keeping it going this long and this hard.

Track of Distinction: “Farewell Lola Blue” could have been on their debut. Time stands still for these guys.

Artist: Arcade Fire
Album: ‘Everything Now‘
Year: 2017

I don’t know if Arcade Fire has earned the right to be so weird and so underwhelming at this point in their run. But this album is like Win Butler wanted to see what he could make by not really paying much attention and then releasing an album that is expected to sell based on the weight of the Arcade Fire name. Most of the tracks seem to be half an idea that are not allowed to mature and simply die on the vine. This band is better than that and they should know it.

Track of Distinction: “Put Your Money On Me” was the single for a reason. It’s the only developed track on the entire record.

Playing Catch-Up: Part I

As I have stated several times on this blog, I never thought it would take this long to get through my iTunes library. Sure, sometimes it is because I’m slacking and not willing to do what it takes to get through artists and songs as quickly as I could, and that is all my fault. But, as I look at my music collection, I found that it is still growing. I’m not stopping my collecting simply because of this project. Time does not stand still and there’s a lot of great music out there to hear from artists I truly enjoy. However, I found myself acquiring a new album from an artist I already covered and just said to myself, “I’ll listen to this new album when I come back around again.” It dawned on me a few weeks back that going back around might take a long time and all of this want inside me to listen to new music isn’t going away. So, being the problem-solver I am, I solved the problem.

Starting with M, I am going to take time out after every 10 artists to play a little catch-up with the newer music I have. I will not go crazy making five albums the max for every Catch-Up post. Each album will have its own ToD and a mix will be made. The write-ups will be brief (one graf) and centered on the album itself. I feel like I’ve been up my own ass lately with some of my reviews so i’m going to try and curb that a bit without losing the flavor I enjoy. So, without further adieu, here are the first five albums with which I’m catching-up.

Artist: Arcade Fire
Album: ‘Reflektor‘
Year: 2013
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Let it never be said that Arcade Fire lacks ambition. Their latest release is as brilliant as it is maddening because, while it is not at all accessible to first-time callers, it is an imaginative world of sound and harmony that their fans have come to expect. While I had some issues with the overal length and breadth of the album, I found it quite pleasing in the end. There’s nothing really catchy about any of the tracks but they all work well to create a wonderful, cohesive experience.

Track of Distinction: “Joan of Arc” is a wonderful art-pop romp that is simply something to behold.

Artist: The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Album: ‘Out of Frequency‘
Year: 2012
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The more I hear this band the more I both like them and am puzzled as to why they aren’t a bigger deal. They have better pop sensibilities than most of the pop stars out there, they produce better dance tracks than a lot of electronic bands, and they produce a product so consistent that any track could be pegged for radio play (even their weird shit). If any Programming Managers are reading this you should opt for this band’s stuff immediately!

Track of Distinction: “Mafia” is the type of quirky and fun track I like from this band. It could have been a throwaway song for anyone else but they actually try and make this a great song, and it shows.

Artist: The Black Keys
Album: ‘El Camino‘
Year: 2011
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Here is a band that I know is good, their music is solid, but I cannot get fully on board with them. This album is a continuation of their “don’t give a shit” sound that, while not quite catchy, is engaging enough to keep you coming back. With a little more effort they could come out with something earth-shattering, but it would almost seem so unlike them to do so. I guess I should learn to love who they are instead of what they could be.

Track of Distinction: “Little Black Submarines” has what it takes to go down as one of the best songs ever made. Its duality and its intensity make other songs dim in comparison.

Artist: Daft Punk
Album: ‘Random Access Memories‘
Year: 2013
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In the wake of their Grammy win for Best Album for this platter I have heard a lot of complaining that this year’s award (unlike any other years o_O) was a popularity contest and not necessarily rewarding the best album. Though I enjoyed this album from end-to-end, I understand the criticism and validate it by saying yes, this probably wasn’t the best album of last year. However, it is an album that will go down in the annals of music history as the next quantum leap in music, raising the bar for, no only electronic music, but EDM, dance, pop, and hip-hop music. Think about this: “Get Lucky” was the best hip-hop/dance track I’ve heard in ages and every producer and artist out there will be scrambling to match their sound to be as catchy as this single track. 

Track of Distinction: “Touch” with vocals by Paul Williams is an amazing track that begins with a slow smoulder but soon ignites into something truly beautiful. 

Artist: Darius Rucker
Album: ‘True Believers‘
Year: 2013
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It’s hard to see the darker side of someone you know as an optimist or as a generally positive force in this world. That’s why this album, Rucker’s third country album, takes kind of a turn, framing issues like infidelity, loss, cheating lovers, and broken hearts. In that way it truly is a country album. With his sweet and velvety voice, he is able to run the gamut of emotions from beginning to end. The lead single, “Wagon Wheel” is toe-tapping fun but that pretty much stops there. Also, his cover of Hank Williams’ timeless “Your Cheatin’ Heart” is a nice bow on this album (though you need to get the deluxe edition to experience it).

Track of Distinction: I felt Rucker placed “Miss You” too early in the album for it to have an impact, yet this heavy and very painful song sets up the rest of the album’s motif with a story about the distance that grows between spouses when the magic fades. 

Arcade Fire

Albums: ‘Neon Bible’ (2007) and ‘The Suburbs’ (2010)

Some bandwagons should be jumped upon.

I’m not going to sit here and give you some drivel about how I knew about Arcade Fire years ago and it’s all these other posers who are just now jumping on their collective French-Canadian dick. It’s just not true. I came to know them by way most people did (and probably didn’t know it at the time): through their breakout hit “Wake Up” from their 2004 album ‘Funeral.’ I heard this song years after the album came out so, like most of the time, I was behind the curve.

I heard good buzz surrounding ‘The Suburbs’ when it was released last year and It piqued my interest. What I found surprising was this wasn’t their follow-up to ‘Funeral;’ that distinction went to ‘Neon Bible.’ Upon learning this I came to a full stop and determined I must listen to these albums to see what I have been missing. ‘Funeral’ is a modern classic and I wanted to see how they followed up.

In the end, it took ‘The Suburbs’ to win the Grammy for Album of the Year to get my complete attention and to make it on my iPod. Both albums have thier own feel to them. I felt ‘Neon Bible’ was the band extending the fun they had making ‘Funeral’ (because you can’t spell Funeral without “Fun”) and ‘The Suburbs’ was a more grown up sound for them. The fun was still there, but it was that fun like you have at your day job–laughing at bad puns and the occasional Nerf war. Both are solid albums with some of the most cohesive sounds from any group effort today.

Tracks of Distinction: I decided to go with one from each platter. From ‘Neon Bible,’ I have to tip my hat to “Intervention,” and from ‘The Suburbs,’ I choose “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).” I made a conscious decision to leave this section for songs other than the notable singles from the record, and I had no idea these were singles from their respective albums when I chose them. In any case, these two songs are just gleaming examples of perfection on great overall albums.