Pop-Rock

Pop:
Reviews that are full of song descriptions are lame. You can have some general description, you can have description of songs that are atypical, and you can have description of the best or craziest song on an album, but reading all that shit about songs that the reader's never heard will bore the reader.

So a review must involve something greater than just description. Some sort of comparative theory, or a story/reaction to the music. I'm sure there's more that's doable. Perhaps one could, to concede a bit, string together general description with description of the atypical or awesome into a full review. Or if a captivating angle for description could be found...


Rock:
Serge Gainsbourg. He's French, he makes pop (dead now)... and whispers over the music about sex, farting, or, as reported by allmusic, Hitler. (Hitler is the easy laugh, generally speaking.)

He made a whispery duet with his 12-year old daughter. He called it "Lemon Incest."

It's all creepy, but it sure does taste good.


Listening to:

Jeff Buckley - Grace

Me, I got out again.

notes to self:
a. do not discount the lyrical capabilities of Tom Verlaine.

b. do not forget the mastery tension and composition that appears on Marquee Moon.


I'm working on a top albums list. Though it came from a "make a list of your favorite 20 albums" request, my method in creating such a list has resulted in a list that will be around 100 long. It has caused me to need to return to a number of albums from my past, many of which I have failed to actually return to in the process of making this list. But I expect I shall and ultimately will have created one hell of a list.


currently listening to

Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information

Aging poorly

I found another one from high school that is no where near as good as I thought it was.

Ghostface's Bulletproof Wallets. Ghost can be brilliant. this is not. I always thought "Maxine" was the stand-out moment and could stand up to his best. I... am not so sure anymore. alas, my childhood seems to have been fantasy. also, Ghost sucks at singing. but we remembered that, didn't we. thin uninteresting keyboard elements in the beats really detract. and without "the sun" and that little sung part of "the forest," this shit lost so much potential. but the "remix" of "flowers" is hotter than i remembered. Not as awesome as the original. but still hot.

i'll stick to supreme clientele and ironman.


Listening to:

Peter Gabriel - Shaking the Tree

The Further Adventures of Lord Quas

New Quasimoto. It came out yesterday, I bought it 30 minutes ago. Here is my first listen.

This is some crazy drug music.

Crawling on the walls shit. Slow motion living.

Greenery, Hydrant Game? heeeeaaaw.

Don't Blink: Shit never hits me instantly like this.

Players of the Game... that time signature/sample switch. wooh, what newness.

The Van Peebles samples on Bus Ride a. may be overdone (we'll see what i think later) and b. keep this album far away from me playing it around people.

Closer: How does Madlib get MF Doom to sound so much cooler? Nasty beat.

Maingirl: beat reminds me of one of the Madvillainy interludes. that's a good thing. The falsetto-man interlude does not need to be there. this beat strikes me as... unvisionable. I just can't see how he heard these samples and said "let's put this together." Interlude at end: that snare. I want madlib to produce my pop record.

Bartender Say: let this intro be the beat! yessss. sweet. it's like a Doom jazz-lite beat... turned evil. this is the sort of beat that will change hip hop, i hope. I think Doom may have influenced 'Lib. That is a dream come true. So happy right now.

1994: blacksploitation beat. swinging. hot. and so minimal. there is no snare. just tambourine, conga and bass drum.

Raw Deal: it's like Come On Feet in turbo.

Mr. Two-Faced: he did the beat magic again.

The Exclusive: that synth in the ending interlude is potent. glad he threw that in.

J.A.N.: another wonderous beat. bahaha. "the vip list is long. the std list is strong." skipping ass music.

Shroom Music: oh mygod the most fucked beat yet. i am in space. my name is Bird. r.i.p. hip hop. nature sounds? giant synth... the drum loop: slamming. and hey, that "whawouldjuget" sample from the last album.

Rappcatts pt. 3: that crazy carnival music bit at the start. please, let it come back. yes! there it is. 1:38. oh what drugs. whoa. JB cutup with triplets. hot. i am in the future.

Strange Piano: will it live up to its name? ah... what is going on. ok. there's the beat. i think the 1 of the piano may be on a snare, which falls on the 2. it doesn't help that there's no bass drum in this song. haha. "snare drum awareness," he says.

Life Is: beats aren't supposed to work like this.

Raw Addict pt 2: a hip hop song with an instrumental melody chorus. that doesn't happen. awesome. ... that's so obvious. why didn't this happen before?

Tomorrow Never Knows: the drugs... oh the drugs. where does he find these records. why does he use these records. gloriously untraditional. yaahahah "they know that the american forefathers took drugs. and you probably don't even know where your father is."

Privacy: this beat reminds me of boy bands in the best way. that descending bass part with drum hits on each note. mmhm. what kind of ending is that! man.

What a great addition to a great day this album is. Is this better than the first? that's almost blasphemy. my lord, madlib, you are the goddamn man.

Justification

Do we not mock what we love?

Frank Zappa loved doo-wop; he parodied it to the point of having a whole album of sappy I-vi-ii-V songs.

Are we embracing what we love as being dumb? Is that all we're doing? Or are we ignoring that it's dumb?

One can accept the dumbness of a music and still enjoy it for other reasons, perhaps. Zappa seemed to revel in its stupidity. But he was a Dadaist. that may make it ok.

Maybe the majority of us music addicts (those of us not stuck in listening to only one type of music) really all love "stupid pop," but are not ready to admit it (some are ready.)


Listening to:

Autechre - Tri Repetae
(and a leafblower outside)

Music for Homework (pt. 2 of that other post)

I forgot the most obvious homework/study music of all. This is a list post involving one man. Brian Eno.

Discreet Music
Ambient 1-4
Apollo
Thursday Afternoon

Listening to:

Nick Drake - Pink Moon