Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye" (spotlight)

Driving last night I heard "Lazy Eye" on the radio, and that reminded me that I've been meaning to do this: I hereby declare The Smashing Pumpkins redundant, and in the future we need only the Silversun Pickups.

When I first head "Lazy Eye" some 11 (!) years ago I (and everyone else) thought Brian Aubert's voice was similar to Billy Corgan's, and that their overall sound mines the same territory as The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, and MBV.  So why are TSPs now redundant?

First, although I was never a huge fan of TSPs, their early work (e.g., from 1993's "Siamese Dream") nicely captures the sound of the early 90s / post-college and all the associated nostalgia.  I enjoyed the singles from each successive LP less and less, but did not let their decreasing relevancy diminish my enjoyment of "Disarm", "Today", etc.

Then when Danette and I got together she made it clear in no uncertain terms that she did not like Billy Corgan.  On the other hand, Danette's a hater and dislikes a lot of good music, so I remained unconvinced and having never seen Corgan in an interview, I had a protective veil of ignorance.  Recently, in the autobiography "Girl in a Band",  I discovered that Kim Gordon's assessment of Billy Corgan matches Danette's.  This is when I started to think maybe Danette was right... 

The final straw is when I recently saw a screen grab of Billy Corgan on Info Wars, talking about chemtrails or something.  That convinced me that 1) he actually was batshit crazy, and 2) Danette was definitely right.

Can you reject creepy Corgan and still enjoy "Today"?  I'm not sure, but in the mean time we can enjoy the Silversun Pickups, who still "sound like college" to me.  They've had a steady stream of moderately successful singles, but "Lazy Eye" from their 2006 debut LP "Carnavas" is probably still their biggest hit.  And we can probably just retire Billy et al.

Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye", live from Sun Liquor (from which their name derives), live on Fearless Music (2010-06)

Bonus Sonic Youth reference:  From the official video, Nikki Monninger (top) looks like a brunette Kim Gordon (bottom).  

2018-02-15 edit: I came across this today...

Just a little reminder, in case you’re tempted to support Billy Corgan during this “Smashing Pumpkins reunion” tour. pic.twitter.com/NN7R0g9p9P

— AustinBloggy (₌ㅇᆽㅇ₌) (@AustinBloggy) February 15, 2018

Arctic Monkeys - "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (LP Review)

What's the appropriate soundtrack for the recent UK riots? "Anarchy in the UK" by the Pistols? "London's Burning" by The Clash? All good choices, but they're 1) dated and 2) rather literal.

Instead, I thought of "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not", the 2006 debut LP by the Arctic Monkeys, a colorful collection of songs that depict the bleak, feckless lives of working class youth in the UK. For example, listen to "Riot Van", and it becomes apparent that lead singer / guitarist / song writer Alex Turner is writing about (and in the process, somewhat glamorizing) a general malaise, not about riots themselves. Take Springsteen's "Nebraska", update it by an entire generation, transplant it to the UK, speed it up, and you have WPSIATWIN.

While I had seen Arctic Monkeys on a TV show (SNL perhaps?) and enjoyed them, it took me a while to actually get this LP. The hype machine for the band was in full swing (yet another Britpop band: The Strokes, Oasis, etc.), so I wasn't sure what to think. The LP really is as good (or nearly so) as the hype: stripped down, lo-fi, catchy garage punk. Similar to The Cribs, and while not quite as good as them, they easily belong in the same discussion. Although if pressed, I might admit that the lead single from the LP, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", rawks as hard as anything The Cribs have written.

Standout Songs: "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", "The View From the Afternoon", "Fake Tales of San Francisco", "Riot Van", "Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But..", "When the Sun Goes Down".

Skip'em Songs: none.

Final Score: 9/10.

Johnny Cash - "God's Gonna Cut You Down" (the song remains the same)

Both Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin had Hall of Fame careers even if they had never hooked up for Cash's American Recordings series. But they did, and the result was nothing short of amazing...

On the surface, Cash & Rubin would seem to be an unlikely pairing: Cash is a born-again Christian from Arkansas and Tennessee who is best known for singing gospel, folk and country; and Rubin is a Jew from Long Island who is best known for producing hip hop and metal bands and founding the seminal record label Def Jam Recordings (with Russell Simmons in 1984).

On further inspection, it is a perfect match: Sun Records was the Def Jam / Def American of its time and Cash certainly lived (invented?) the rock and roll lifestyle. Furthermore, Rubin is renowned for his powerful, stripped-down, spare production style that gets the most out of the artist; and Cash's career had been foundering, in part because the major labels were overproducing his records and trying to make him into something he was not. Cash and Rubin released their first record in 1994, American Recordings, and that was the beginning of a critically and commercially successful string of LPs each of which consisted of originals, re-recording of Cash's early songs, covers and standards.

Released as a single from 2006's posthumously released "American V: A Hundred Highways", "God's Gonna Cut You Down" is Cash's version of the traditional song generally credited as "Run On". The song has been recorded by many different artists and although it is a homily about abandoning sinful ways, it is generally presented as an up-tempo and joyful song -- a New Testament reading, if you will.

Not so with Cash and Rubin -- you could say they give an Old Testament presentation: dark, booming and vengeful. Changing the title from "Run On" captures the shift of emphasis -- "God's Gonna Cut You Down" was always in the lyrics, but it never seemed to be the main point of the song. Now it is, and the song sounds like the wrath of God.

You might (barely) recognize the song from Moby's 1999 LP "Play", where it was titled "Run On" and sampled a 1947 recording by Bill Landford & The Landfordaires (then titled "Run On for a Long Time"). I must have heard this song dozens of times before I even realized they were singing the lyrics "God will cut you down". This song is a typical example of Moby's gift for recontextualizing early recordings (folk, blues, etc.) in an electronica format.

Another notable version is from the Blind Boys of Alabama, from their 2001 LP "Spirit of the Century". This is a more conventional gospel arrangement, probably closer to Moby's source recording from Landford.

There are countless other recordings of this song but this should give a good sampling of the various versions. And as good as these other versions are, Cash and Rubin have pretty much closed the book on this song -- no one else is going to come close.

Johnny Cash: "God's Gonna Cut You Down"

Moby: "Run On", "Run On" (live acoustic version)

Bill Landford & The Landfordaires: "Run On for a Long Time"

Blind Boys of Alabama: "Run On"

Camera Obscura - "Let's Get Out of This Country" (LP Review)

"Let's Get Out of This Country", the 2006 LP by Camera Obscura, reaches the potential hinted at by their first two LPs: 2001's "Biggest Bluest Hi Fi" and 2003's "Underachievers Please Try Harder". Those were good, solid LPs that featured a handful of good songs. However, it all comes together for the band in LGOOTC: the production, the song writing & variety, the lyrics and the singing -- just the right combination of cleverness, earnestness, maturity, and detachment. An indie pop masterpiece.

The ease in which the band executes different styles is one of the features that separates this record from their others. Aside from the perfected indie pop sound, they also nail a smoky, downbeat country song ("Dory Previn"), a waltz ("The False Contender") and punk ("If Looks Could Kill"). The songs are slow ("Country Mile"), "vast" ("Razzle Dazzle Rose"), up-tempo ("Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken") and mid-tempo ("Come Back Margaret") and everything in between.

As many people have now read, "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" is an "answer" to Lloyd Cole and the Commotions' 1984 single "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?" from the LP "Rattlesnakes" -- "Hey Lloyd, I'm ready to be hearbroken / 'cause I can't see further than my own nose at this moment". That's a pretty obscure pull and you have to respect that. Ditto the homage to Dory Previn with the lyrics: "How I adore you Dory Previn / I turned you up to eleven for the band’s ears to bleed".

The weakest song is "I Need All the Friends I Can Get". It's not really a bad song, but it also suffers from placement immediately after the "If Looks Could Kill", which is easily my favorite song. Sometimes I'll skip the preceding song, "Country Mile", just to hurry up and get to "If Looks Could Kill".

Although it is a band effort, the star of the show is definitely the dour, never-smiling Tracyanne Campell. She writes all the songs, sings and is one of the two guitarists. Producer Jari Haapalainen does a great job of capturing the band's lush yet lo-fi sound, but especially so in capturing the tension of vulnerability and strength in Campell's voice. You owe it to yourself to give this LP a listen.

Standout tracks: "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken", "Tears for Affairs", "Come Back Margaret", "Dory Previn", "Let's Get Out of This Country", "If Looks Could Kill".

Skip 'em tracks: none.

Final Score: 10/10.

The Cribs - "Arigato Cockers" (LP Review)

"Arigato Cockers" is a 2006 Japanese-only EP from The Cribs. It is essentially the non-LP single "You're Gonna Lose Us" with several B-sides collected from earlier singles. Yes, my obsession with this band has reached the point where I'm buying imports and singles just to be a completist.

It's been nearly two years since I first heard them and I still don't know why they are not more popular than they are. I'm doing my part; they're in heavy rotation in my cd player & iPod and I talk about them incessantly to anyone that will listen. While they're not exactly unknown, I don't understand why bands like Coldplay (y-a-w-n) become huge and The Cribs have not. Or at least not yet.

So while we await release of new material from the Johnny Marr version of The Cribs, I'm forced to review a collection of B-sides, demos, covers, outtakes, etc. "You're Gonna Lose Us" is an excellent song, deserving of A-side single status. Recorded in 2005, it sounds like it was recorded (or at least written) for The New Fellas sessions (although the producer, engineer, etc. information according to Discogs doesn't support this theory). This song alone is worth the price of the EP.

"Saturday Night Facts of Life" is a cover of a Comet Gain song (the original can be found at Rhapsody). The excellent "Advice From a Roving Artist" also features Comet Gain's bassist, Jon Slade; it sounds similar to (even better than?) "Be Safe" from "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever". The other tracks ("It Happened So Fast", "Feelin' It!", "To Jackson") would be great songs for nearly any band other than The Cribs. But in The Crib's canon, they're merely middle of the road songs.

Standout tracks: You're Gonna Lose Us, Advice From a Roving Artist, Saturday Night Facts of Life.

Skip 'em tracks: None.

Final score: 7/10. That's a little bit unfair since this really isn't an LP; it's an EP that is really a single plus a grab bag of B-sides, but the score reflects that "Arigato Cockers" is not where casual fans of the band should begin. If you treat it as just a single + 5 bonus tracks then it rates much higher.

Final score: 8/10. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I wrote it, but I have to revise my earlier rating. The itunes play counts don't lie: this is a really good EP.

DJ Shadow - "The Outsider" (LP Review)

Where to begin? First, I have to say DJ Shadow is one of my favorite artists. I have worked hard to collect a good portion of his varied discography (the few studio LPs he's released represent only a small bit). Second, I don't want to sound like I'm down on this release because it's not just a rehash of "Endtroducing...." (or even "Psyence Fiction"). "The Private Press" has already established that he can continue to innovate and not just mine the same ground over and over.

Therein lies the problem... While "The Outsider" is a grab-bag of different styles, there is almost no new ground and no central theme or vision that unites them. I won't mention most of the 13+ guest artists on this LP because, frankly, most of them aren't good enough to carry Shadow's crates.

The train wreck begins with a spoken word intro that's too long ("Outsider Intro") and a lounge-inspired track ("This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way)") that proves Thievery Corporation has nothing to worry about. Then there are two hyphy tracks ("3 Freaks", "Turf Dancing") that have big beats and silly lyrics. Ok, so it's DJ Shadow doing hyphy, but is he adding anything new? I don't know the genre all that well, but it sounds indistinguishable from the other examples I've heard. I liked it better when Shadow invented genres instead of just participating in them.

There are three dreadful rap songs: "Keep 'em Close", "Backstage Girls" and "Dat's My Part". The rappers are awful and the lyrics puerile (in the "bitches and hoes" style). Those songs actually make me cringe. There are two Katrina-inspired songs: "Seein' Thangs" and "Broken Levee Blues". The former is not bad, and the latter is a simple but effective instrumental. "Artifact" is an instrumental that sounds like a hip-hop interpretation of a Metallica song. There's a novelty appeal I guess, but no staying power.

"Triplicate / Something Happened That Day" is interesting, mostly because it sounds like it could have been included on "The Private Press" (and the fact that it is based on John Cage's "In a Landscape"). Similarly, "The Tiger" and "Erase You" sound like outtakes from "Psyence Fiction" -- not bad, but not new either. "What Have I Done" is a spoken word, new age song that is inadvertently funny (ex. "I am your healing spirit" -- really?! this is the kind of thing that you sample to be ironic (cf. "Blood on the Motorway"), not the kind of thing you actually create). "You Made It" sounds like the theme song for a yet-to-be-created sitcom. Listen to it, listen to Sonny Curtis, and then tell me I'm wrong.

"Enuff" is a good, commercial song and features Q-Tip and former Solesides / Quannum colleague Lateef the Truth Speaker. I can understand Shadow's desire for commercial success. If he really wants to be commercial (and I don't hold that against him, he's earned it), I'd like to see him work more with the Quannum crew: Blackalicious, Latyrx, et al. They deserve to be on the same stage with him. His new guests are beneath him and are holding him back.

Standout tracks: "Enuff", "Triplicate / Something Happened That Day", "Broken Levee Blues".

Skip 'em tracks: All except the 3 mentioned above. Don't believe me? Listen to them at last.fm. You were warned.

Final score: 2/10

2010-11-21 Edit: This post has been identified as violating DMCA, which of course is completely false. All music links are to YouTube & last.fm. I've also changed the image.