Wednesday 12 September 2012

Play To Z: Cinderella's Eyes To Crosby, Stills & Nash

I've been busy, ill and my mind has been on mundane troubles, so I don't have a big central thesis for this post. Nonetheless, it's been a great chunk of albums, which I'll detail below...

Some Observations

Nicola Roberts' album is great, of course, and if you haven't listened to it, you're a fool, but her cover of "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime" is surprisingly nuanced. Her voice suits the song very well, and the 80s electronica-sheen her version adds works well.

Codes And Keys is a bit of a disappointing show for Death Cab For Cutie. Apart from the title track and "Doors Unlocked And Opened", there's no real standout songs, and the whole album slid by without me really noticing.

It's interesting to go back to The College Dropout and find Kanye West more or less exactly how he is at the moment. He arrived almost fully formed (which for some reason has me picturing him taking Venus' place in Botticelli's The Birth Of Venus) and, although his sound has evolved, his lyrical skill, his personality and his ego were there from the very beginning. The album focuses heavily on his car accident and his experiences in college, and is a fairly stunning dissection of modern life for young, middle-class African-American men and women.



The Wallpaper remix of "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell" by Das Racist is a stunning, stunning party track. As Chief Playlist Wrangler at our house parties, I always make sure it drops at some point, but the only problem is very few people know it, so it doesn't get quite the reception it should. Ho hum.

I prefer MGMT's second album Congratulations to their first. I feel like I'm in the minority on this, but I don't know for sure.

My friend Alex, who's musical taste I respect immensely, hates The Fratellis. My friend Bret, who I live with and who is consider a brother, loves them. Where do I sit? Well, they're as subtle as a knee-capping, and their songs aren't about anything other than themselves (not that that discounts them from being great - "Groove Is In The Heart" isn't exactly deep and I've killed men for saying it's not wonderful). Their lyrics are often nonsensical and the melodies are hardly varied. But despite all that, even Alex can't deny that they are bloody catchy, and just like "Combination...", "Chelsea Dagger" is a frequent party tune because people know it, and it gets them moving. And isn't that the point?

The 2004 Pavement reissue Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: LA's Desert Origins, is a double album with 49 tracks. 49. It's the original album, B-sides, tracks from compilations, live BBC sessions and other unreleased treats. It weakens considerably as it goes on, but it's still a magnificent collection, and the original album is a classic.

Rediscovered Gem

"Heavy Metal" by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

1 comment:

  1. "Chelsea Dagger is a frequent party tune because people know it, and it gets them moving..." Yeah. Directly out of the door and onto the cold dark streets!

    But I feel you on Congratulations. I always feel like I'm an inch or two away from really properly digging MGMT, but it's got some good stuff on it.

    ...And I really need to go and revisit Kanye's older stuff. Really thought I didn't like him before MBDTF, but now I'm excited about every track that drops.

    ReplyDelete