I wrote this at 2:30 am last night and forgot to click publish... my first sentence explains why.
I'm pretty drunk right now; bare with me. Diamond Dogs is one of my favorite albums of all time. Few bands are able to rock it like David Bowie. But one song off of Wire's latest release, Red Barked Tree, sounds strikingly similar to Bowie's glam-studded and sex-ridden style. I think it's because of the lead singer. His voice is glorious and touched lightly with a swell effect on this track. Not only that, Please Take has thumping drums, processed guitars, and ping-pong bouncing bass - all staples of The Cure in the 80s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXCKLJGLENs. This is not surprising though as The Cure have admitted that Wire is one of their influences. Combine Bowie and The Cure... I don't know how this can be bad (I even think there is a little bit of The Police hidden in here... yay 80s' Brit-dream-pop!). I am floored with this song. Please Take by Wire deserves a 5/5. Listen here with headphones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULtTs8JtWzQ. Better yet, buy the song.
I'm on a Bowie-like binge right now for some reason, but I'm not searching for it. It's falling into my lap. Destroyer's ninth studio album, Kaputt, is also reminiscent of Bowie. Dan Bejar, the frontman, is a nutty Canadian and a self-acclaimed Euro-blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. I strongly suggest listening to this album with headphones. He loves to color with crazy synth effects and messes with the balance of the L/R channels. This is especially noticeable in the first song, China Town, where the synth dominates with varying effects, and each effect has a noticeable swell. There are also trumpet and sax solos. It reminds me of what it would probably feel like to be Mario when he gets a winged hat in Mario 64. The second song on the album, Blue Eyes, centers on multiple guitars and a trumpet. It has a really light and jazzy feel. The third song sounds like 80s' pop, so here again the synth is going wild. But the most noticeable instruments are the constant bass and one recurring high-pitched bass melody. I could be frolicking on clouds with this song playing appropriately as the soundtrack. See a trend here? This lovely album is really light-sounding and freeflyingly-upbeat, which makes it great for any type of listening situation (freeflyingly is not a word). It's also not overly ambitious but is versatile enough to maintain the same feel throughout without all the songs resembling each other. I give it a hesitantly generous 4.8/5 because I'm liking it more and more as I continue listening. Definitely put this album into your music library soon. Favorite songs: China Town, Baby Blue Eyes, Poor In Love, Downtown, and Bay Of Pigs.
A while back I was watching Entourage with a friend; he and I both shut up pretty quickly when this song closed out the episode. FreeSol signed to Justin Timberlake's label about 5 years ago and then quickly fused forces with Interscope. He has allegedly been recording his debut album (he has a few mixtapes and singles that blow), but it has been 5 years... and that Entourage episode was last summer. I have no idea what this progressive hip-hopper is waiting for. The single off his supposed album is Don't Give It Away. This song is solid. It's rare that a hip-hop artist produces a formidable love song, but this is an exception. The head-bobbing beat pumps along almost in double-time, but slow down that head bob and it can also be a swirling/flowing beat. The bass is heavy heavy heavy, mostly because it's descends deep on the fretboard of what I would assume to be a 5-string. The track is colored on the high end with a cool little synth riff and at times a pretty mean guitar melody pops up. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS4H8blCs_M. I give it a 4/5.
Best, Jonathan
No comments:
Post a Comment