Shout Out Louds - Optica 5.30.13-6.6.13

It seemed all too fitting that the Shout Out Louds would release Optica while I was here -- 

For years, I dreamt about what adventures in Europe would sound like, look like, feel like, smell like, be like. And for years, the Shout Out Louds informed my imagination about what it could be like to get drunk at a music hall in Switzerland or how the smoke from Belgian cigarettes would dance along the highway or how the morning smells in the French countryside while friends are still warm in their beds.

I live in Brussels now, but not for much longer.

One of the best aspects of everyday life here is that people will say things in English that you've never heard, some combination of words that makes perfect sense in their native tongue but poetically refreshing in your own. It'll sound odd (for sure), but simultaneously filled with some sort of sincere gorgeousness:

Just two men sharing a coffee-- nothing more.

I will be taking flesh for dinner tonight, I think.

Please. Please. Thank you, well. Thank you, well.

When I listen to the Shout Out Louds album Optica, this is what I think about: their lyrical phrasing, their whimsical ballads, their "lets-get-lost-on-a-getaway" tone, the sincerity of sound.

here, my apartment is small. I live in Asia Town. On our small street, a drunkard finds himself crooning at the moon. When the snow traces down on Belgium, I'm drawing at night. I've always worked best at night. The Shout Out Louds are on. I'm living somewhere I shouldn't be, and this is very pleasant.

Micah

Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury 11.30.11-12.6.11

I came across this album years after its 2006 release. Originally, it didn’t even occur to me to give it a chance (“Who’s Clipse?”) until I browsed through some “Best Albums of the Year/Decade” lists in a search for new music. This album was consistently near the top, and after a few weeks of not being able to put it down, I can see why.

Clipse is the duo of Pusha T and Malice, two brothers from Virginia who apparently sold a lot of cocaine before hitting the studio. I’m not talking like pseudo thugs who went to art school (e.g. like Mobb Deep). The authenticity of the lyrics adds to the overall chilling vibe of the record. Pusha and Malice’s straightforward flows are surprisingly captivating and a lot of the word play is downright clever. A choice lyric: “I make All-of-her Twist like Dickens.” The track “Keys Open Doors” is all about how selling “keys” of cocaine opens “doors” to upward social mobility. Neat.

However, the real standout performance on the album goes to The Neptunes, producers extraordinaire. Pharrell’s handiwork provides a perfectly eerie backdrop for Clipse’s rhymes. Unlike so much other rap/hip-hop out there today, it isn’t overproduced; while there’s a lot going on in each track, the beats retain a sparse sound. In this way, the style shares some similarities to early 90’s hip-hop, but with much more variety. The individual parts on Pharrell’s compositions are all weird and very intriguing. To see what I mean by this, check out the chimes on “Ride Around Shining” or the high-pitched steel-drum on “Ain’t Cha.”

Overall, the combination of the dark production and the boastful lyrical content exudes cockiness and brashness that makes this hip-hop album fun to listen to. And it’s so good that I feel like an irreverent badass even when I’m listening to it on my i-pod while wearing business casual attire and walking down Newbury Street.

Hell Hath No Fury is a lean record with no filler, which is refreshing for this genre. No dumb intro and interlude “skits” of gunfights and answering machine messages that stretch the album length to 20+ tracks; no spotlight-stealing features of big name stars. Just a really solid hip-hop record that should go down as a classic.

Apple Juice Kid - Louis Armstrong Remixed 11.23.11 - 11.29.11

This album is an excellent choice for anyone who loves to re-imagine a classic. It can be dangerous territory remixing the greats, and Apple Juice Kid makes a bold choice attempting this with Louis Armstrong, inarguably one of the most influential American musicians of all time. However, he does it with class, refusing a cheap hijacking of someone else’s genius and instead creates a seamless tribute to jazz and a genuine effort to keep it relevant.

Apple Juice Kid never takes too much credit and Armstrong’s gritty voice shines through the mellow electronic layering. You’ll never forget who the real star of the show is, and you’ll appreciate AJK all the more for realizing it. A great album for fans who want to re-experience a favorite, it can also provide a beautiful translation to those whose ears haven’t been opened to the cadence of jazz and still need the right middleman to tune them in. It’s the perfect background music for long conversation.

Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials 11.16.11 - 11.23.11

I am taking a risk with posting this album.  I think it might be a bit too girl-angsty for your taste, but as this is my first post, and I feel like (or am at least guessing) that  you are an ecclectic, willing-to-try-anything-once bunch, here we go...

I really like Florence + The Machine.  As a lover of Alanis, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, in a time of Lady Gaga, Kesha, and Beyonce (who are great, given the right time and place), I thought this type of music was dead.  Florence + The Machine have pieced together an album that is both morbid and uplifting.  Better yet, its not a debut album (which, for many artists contains the greatest songs they can come up with, which is followed by a shit second album, for the purposes of staying relevant, but I digress...).  I like it.

"No Light, No Light"-  In my opinion, the best song on the album because the hook is so friggin' catchy and it appeals to my love of dramatic, over-the-top lyrics.

"Seven Devils"- This song lands smack dab in the middle of the album and breaks things up nicely because it gives us something to think about.  For whatever reason, I link this song directly with "Leave My Body", a ghostly gospel ballad.

"Remain Nameless"-  Well-placed and unique.

"Only If for a Night"-  Great opener- pretty much the gist of the album.

"Lover to Lover"- Poppy, upbeat, dare I say fun?

The rest of the album is comprised of shades of the songs mentioned above.  I am curious to see what everyone else thinks.  Thanks for reading!  Love you forever.

-EZ

Wiz Khalifa - Rolling Papers 11.2.11 - 11.9.11

I'm going to do something that hurts me, something that on a primal level makes me feel unsophisticated, stupid, thoughtless and sophomoric and above all uncomfortable. Here I go.

Some pop music today actually sounds good to me. Ya. And I think it's gotten better. And I listen to it sometimes. I listen to it a lot these days actually because it makes me feel good; it makes me feel like a star. It balloons my ego. Like all the girls in the club are staring at me, like I'm just reeling on the edge of awesome, like I'm more important than I actually am. It reminds me of my younger brother and the way that he parties: like everything and everyone is stupendous.

And you know what? I don't care. I don't care if I know that's an artificial feeling sold in the guise of a song. Because I think today, if you can identify something that you like for whatever reason, you should cling to it. Teen years are for being reckless, reckless about the internal anguish you can feel over the way people think about you. Most of the continuing process of getting older is anesthetizing discomfort by identifying resources that you truly like and then utilizing those resources to improve your daily life. Whether they be gourmet lollipops, the "Lion King" game for Super Nintendo or Wiz Khalifa, using those resources is a way to make life better.

So, ya. I like Wiz Khalifa's "Rolling Papers". Because it sounds good to me and it's catchy and makes me feel like the shit and I'm a person and I can do whatever I want. All we can do is hoard the things to like.

The Kills - Midnight Boom 10.26.11 - 11.3.11

I kicked around a few different possibilities debating what album to upload this week. There were the newer 2011 candidates that are still bouncing around my mind ( Fleet Foxes' Helplesness Blues, DJ Shadow's The Less You Know The Better and St. Vincent's Strange Mercy). There were also some classics (Zappa's Roxy & Elsewhere), and important albums for my personal musical maturation and exploration (The Secret Machines' Now Here Is Nowhere).*  However, the simplicity and badassedness of the Kills are what ultimately influenced me.

 Sitting on my couch sipping Almond Milk and listening to The Kills seems oxymoronic.  My almond milk (it is actually chocolate almond milk) is an exotic creature comfort, an opulent gift to myself. It is a product I don't understand (where are the nipples on almonds?), marketed at an age and income bracket above myself, sold by a company that decided to distinguish their products by baptizing themselves "Silk".

The Kills I understand. A singer and a guitarist laying down hard and rhythmic lines and riffs. The lyrics don't need to be understood or considered to enjoy the song.**  It is the wailing guitar. The heaviness of the beat. The quick recognition that the name of the band is a dead-on description of the music. Hand-clapping, foot-stomping rhythms accompany almost every song. The songs are made to energize us. To occupy our bodies and minds. Influence our actions and propel us through the tedium of waiting for the bus or grocery shopping. The Kills are our youthful vigor. Our desire to run through the streets. To dance. To scream and sing at the same time. I am very sorry that I missed them when they rolled through PDX a few months ago. I bet it was a kick ass show. Because that is how I feel when I listen to this album. I bob my head and feel ready to do some parkour or kick ass and just have a good time.  So on the next nice Autumn day grab a flannel, a friend, some whiskey, and head out to the park to enjoy the weather, your youth, and some fun, badass music

-Brooks



* I highly (very highly, actually) recommend all these albums, and may end up finally deciding to post them someday...
**Black Balloon and Goodnight Bad Morning notwithstanding. And I do feel that no matter the artist all lyrics have meaning. Even purposely nonsensical ones.

The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient 10/19 - 10/25

I don’t listen to lyrics much. I hear them, of course, I hum along with them, sing them loudly and mostly inaccurately. But the content of the lyrics – what is actually being said – rarely registers. Listening to this album was no exception.

Paying little mind to the words being sung, I still heard in this music the distinct sounds of restlessness, regret, and relief; I saw flickering neon lights, crumbling urban landscapes, and rusted railroads leading no where; I felt aimless and stranded yet carefree and cocksure alike. I sensed the definite presence of Dylan, Springsteen, The Grateful Dead, The Killers, and Deerhunter. I wanted to go with the album on a long, windows-down joy ride through the American Southwest, but I didn’t have a car. I considered instead hopping a freight train headed anywhere, but I didn’t have the guts. Hitching a riverboat downstream would’ve worked as well, but it was raining so I just stayed home.

I decided the sound should definitely be labeled “Ambient, blissed out, reverberating Americana folk rock,” mostly because that sounded cool. I noted that the album works best as just that, an album: The tracks – which, it seems relevant to note, alternate between buoyant, sun-burnt, sharply-hooked psych pop; mellow, meandering singer-songwriter fare; and droning, hypnotic instrumental interludes – melt into one another from both ends, occasionally bursting into flames.

Then I realized I had just burnt through every adjective I could muster to describe the sound. So, never having written about music before but being familiar enough with the form, I knew I had now to turn towards the lyrics.

So I played the album again, this time with pen and pad in hand, and tried to hear – no, listen to – the words. I found, perhaps not surprisingly, that their mood and imagery echoed exactly that which I’d gleaned from the instruments alone. And I mean the words literally echoed; lead singer and band creator Adam Granduciel’s voice seems at all times to be escaping from a wet cave, the syllables chasing after each other like trails of light across your retina.

In this distant, hazy way, you variously hear him sing: “I’ve been ramblin’,” “I’ve been movin’,” and “I’ve been strugglin’,” and those aren’t even lines from the same song. You hear countless references to geography and transportation:He’s been “down by the sea” and “up in the highlands”; crossed roads, taken trains, cruised on freeways, and spent time around harbors. He’s passed the “fog of city debris,” and felt “strong winds blowing through my mind.” He feels “a thousand miles behind with a million more to climb,” and wonders where all his friends are going, “and why they didn’t take me.”

These are no doubt the words of a restless man – geographically, psychologically, socially. Yet not a discontented man. In “Come to the City,” one of the catchiest tracks, Granduciel tells us for the umpteenth time, “I’ve been rambling, I’ve been driftin’.” This time, the angst is followed by a cathartic, carefree “Woohoooo!” at the top of his lungs, and as the “oooooo”s fade away like a yell from a passing train, you realize he doesn't seem all too worried about being lost and uprooted. Maybe, even, he relishes in it.

But you don’t need him to tell you so to know it. Just listen to the sounds.

...tj

I Can Only Give You Everything: Unholy Rhythms 10/12-10/19

"unholy rhythms" is a groovy compilation of various retro french bands covering US oldies. My favorite is the french cover of "baby love"

I was introduced to the album by my friend Schuyler about a month ago when I was visiting her in Seoul. A week later, I was in Oxford visiting a lover, and this album was the soundtrack to our romantic getaway weekend of bicycles, nice breads, punting, sheets, and champagne. It was our last weekend together. I flew back to Dhaka Sunday morning (where i work) and she stayed in Oxford to finish her PhD. I hid a love note before I left. Hopefully she will save it and read it from time to time when she is upset with her future marriage. She will think back to our weekend. I remember that weekend every time I hear this album.

This album is not only for the jet-setting romantic whose career choice won't permit long term relationships. Its also perfect for late nights with the closest of friends, picnics, beaches, first dates, impressing that special someone, or Hipster scenes, etc.

Sweetest dreams,

Ravid