Issue v

Poll-ease! You like what?!
our staff writers expose their
guiltiest
musical pleasures
~"Embarrassingly enough, i have to admit that I
love Ray Stevens from such songs as ‘The
Streak,’ ‘Mississippi Squirrel Revival,’ and ‘Ahab
the Arab'"-jason aimone
~"’Gossip Folks’ by Missy Elliot. How can you
pass up an intro with the line 'i heard that bitch
got hit by 3 zebras and a monkey'”?-nalini
abhiraman
~”’Blow Ya Mind,’ ‘1000 miles,’ and, erm, Deana
Carter's first cd.” ::marches right back into the
country-music closet:: --roula abisamra
~”Men Without Hats. Incredibly goofy, even by
new wave standards”-Raul Gonzalez
~”Missy Elliott. I would SO work it with her. “
x William the Evans x
~”I have ONE Bright Eyes album. Just one. I
swear. Leave me alone, I am not emo.” -ted
brzinski
~”Ok ok....after bashing Avril for months....i really like that "I'm with you" song....”-rachel
gottschalk
~”I'm not at all ashamed to admit it, so I don't
know if it counts as a guilty pleasure or not, but
Shakira represents all that is good and holy in
the world. And I like her music, too.”-Chris
Rodriguez
~”that TATU song”-mark goh
~”Lynyrd Skynyrd - ‘Sweet Home Alabama’"-liz
koehnemann
~”Tommy Shaw's ‘Girls with Guns,’ WHAM!'s
‘I'm never going to dance again,’ Kenny
Loggins, and, alas, David Hasselhoff. He's just
so hilarious. Admit it, you like him, too.”-samuel
"livy" stout.
are you hot?
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on someone who is?
Help make some $$
for WMRE at
our Dj Auction!
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An Open Letter to
Nelly...
-Spencer KochDear Nelly,
I've been a fan of yours ever since you burst on to
the Hip Hop scene in the late 90's. From Country Grammar
to Dilemma, EI to Pimp Juice, I've been there for all the
highs, lows, and mispronunciations of the letter r in your
career. I'm from the Lou, and I'm proud, Nelly, and that is
why I'm writing you this letter. Over winter break I heard your
song, "Air Force Ones". At first, I was confused as to why
you'd sing about Air Force One, because I wouldn't think the
President would let you "cop his ride" as you would say.
Later, one of my hipper friends explained to me that the Air
Force Ones you were referring to were a type of shoe, not a
type of presidential transportation.
Now, when I heard that Air Force Ones had the Nelly
seal of approval, I had to have them. After all, this is the man
who endorses Vokal brand shirts and Band-aid brand bandaids. I know you have an eye for the best. To the mall I went,
money in hand and hopes high. I asked the good people at
Footlocker for a pair of size twelve Air Force Ones.
When the salesman in referee attire emerged with the
flashy, red and yellow patent leather high tops, I came to a
stunning realization. I am white. As much as I love your
music, Nelly, wearing these shoes puts me in with such racial
barrier straddlers as Michael Jackson and that guy from Fine
Young Cannibals. If I were to wear this shoe, I would be
teased, taunted, chastised, and berated. And that's just by
my parents.
It saddens me, Nelly, that you chose to endorse a shoe
that only a select group of people can wear in public. If Hot
in Herre has taught me anything, it's that you always speak
the truth; I'm sure the Air Force Ones are a great pair of
shoes. But, as a white man who wants to continue to live vicariously through you, I'm making you a plea. Endorse a white
people's shoe. Sing a song about Keds. I can see it now:
Give me two pair/ I need two pair (So I)
Can get to stompin' in my/ New Balance
Ok, I'm not the artist here, but I'm sure you can work your
magic somehow. Thank you Nelly, not just for me, but for all
the white kids out there who sag their khakis, buy their banwhere hot people can find each danas at the Structure outlet store and want to thug out their
Pontiac Grand Ams.
other.
GrayBot 2.0
By Chris
Rodriguez
"Man, who put the booze in this guy's
Cheerios?" was my initial reaction to David Gray's
newest album, A New Day at Midnight. Draped in a
depressingly somber cape of bottom-of-the-barrel
emotion, Gray follows his internationally renowned
1998 release,White Ladder, with a solid, yet still
somehow incomplete effort.
Taking a reverse cue from Beth Orton, David
Gray has journeyed musically in this last decade from
guitar-driven folk perfection to electronic-pop exploration, picking up various hitchhiking fans along the
way. Gray's debut album, A Century Ends, rocked the
European music scene with its brutally honest lyrics
and sharp hooks. Biting into songs like "Shine,"
"Debauchery," and "Gathering Dust," the Welsh
musician reluctantly stepped into the shoes of predecessors like Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. His success continued with Flesh, a reiteration stylistically of
"Century," but which allowed Gray to express the
ultimate joy that came along with his status as a
newly married man. Sell, Sell, Sell, David Gray's third
album, was considered a great piece of art by everyone except his own record company, which refused
to even release it.This setback tangled Gray's career
in a legal web spun by profit-driven music executives,
forcing him to delay the commercial release of an
album's worth of music, which would eventually
become known as Lost Songs 1995-1998.This collection is actually more interesting to study than to
listen to, if for nothing else than the fact that it provides a blueprint of where Gray planned to head
with what would become his key to unlocking the
chest of notoriety and respect.That key was, of
course, 1998's White Ladder.The album represented
a drastic change for Gray's music, as he began experimenting with the booming electronica scene in the
UK and weaving little bits and pieces of it into his
increasingly poppy folk gems.The result was a multiplatinum record in Europe, and several hit singles
that drove it, including "Babylon," "Sail Away," and
"Please Forgive Me."
Virginia-based Dave Matthews obviously knew what
David Gray was capable of producing, as Matthews
made Gray the first signing to his newly-created
ATO Records and released White Ladder in the
United States. Combining the album with a coast-tocoast tour of mid-level venues, Gray declared victory
in the American market, which had historically been
near impossible for singer-songwriters to break into.
David Gray has said that his initial plan for
the follow-up to White Ladder was for it to be more
of an inspirational, ballad-driven work. However,
Gray received a sudden jolt to his life when his
father passed away in the last year.This sense of
deep loss and the ensuing process of mourning are
both felt throughout A New Day at Midnight. Instead
of falling back on familiar guitar-vocal arrangements
in his songs, Gray swims deeper into the ocean of
studio electronics he first visited on Lost Songs
1995-1998 and White Ladder.
This was, of course, his prerogative, but I cannot help
feeling that Gray has made a mistake by relying on
computer technology over man-made output in creating the various melodies that make up the majority
of his new sound.The once-prominent guitars are
buried among layers of beeps and hums, sometimes
to the point of inaudibility.This might have been fine
if Gray had made more of an upbeat album, as the
overall spirit might have leant itself more towards a
techno bent. However, the combination of painful
words and slow moving artificiality blunt some of
Gray's intended impact and frustrate the listener.
I wanted (and still do want) to LOVE this album, I
really did. And honestly, I can see how some people
would thoroughly enjoy it.The sound is exceptionally
smooth and palatable. The lyrics remain as beautiful
as ever, despite their sometimes-haunting nature. But
unfortunately, the major problem here is a general
lack of distinction between most of the songs.You
can see some songs with enormous potential on this
album, among them "Dead in the Water," "Real
Love," "Be Mine," and "The Other Side."
Unfortunately, these are the exceptions, rather than
the norm. In the end, though, I would say that David
Gray's A New Day at Midnight is worth buying. I
consider it an important chapter in Gray's evolution
as a musician and as a person, and I hope that he
continues to make more of the most honest music
available today, whatever it may end up sounding like.
Do It For Love
a review of the new album by
Daryl Hall and John Oates
-Jason Aimone21 years ago, I was born
into a blossoming age of rock
stars that wore tight pink jeans,
sported crazy hair, and played
strange music. But among
these crazy acts was a band
that would one day be called
the most successful duo ever,
Daryl Hall and John Oates. A
mix of rock music and soul,
they were a smashing success
with hits such as "Your Kiss is
on My List," "Maneater," and "I
Can't Go For That (No, no can
do)." Only a few brave souls
play them today, but we all
know deep down that this is
what we grew up on, and we
love it.
On February 11, Hall
and Oates released their
first album of new songs in
six years, and they don't
even have on their pink
jeans on the cover this time. Do
It For Love (on U-Watch
Records) is an album full of
wonderful songs, rocky and
upbeat but yet soft enough to
be relaxing. There are plenty of
songs with great hook-lines that
will leave you singing them in
the shower after listening to the
album only once or twice. If
you are a fan of their old stuff,
you will definitely be a fan of
their new album. If you never
quite got into them before, I
recommend trying out Make
You Stay or Breath of Your Life.
The title track of the album, "Do
It For Love," has even gotten
some airplay. I give it a thumbs
up, but you don't have to listen
to me, listen to your classmate
Ling Guo who states, "I really
like it."
it came from the
80s!
-Raul GonzalezLong before his career as a film composer,
Danny Elfman led a ragtag group of performers knows
as The Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo.The group
slimmed down to an eight-piece band (including a
three-piece horn section) and shortened their name to
Oingo Boingo for a four-song EP in 1980.Their debut
album, Only A Lad, came out in 1981, with clever songs
like “Only A Lad” and “Little Girls.”
The band became increasingly popular in their
native Los Angeles with 1982’s Nothing To Fear (with
songs like “Wild Sex (In The Working Class)”) and
1983’s Good For Your Soul (offering the minor MTV hit
“Nothing Bad Ever Happens”).Still, the band had trouble
making it nationally.
Elfman’s 1984 album So-Lo contained the hit
“Gratitude” (featured on the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack), and the band’s breakthrough came in 1985 with
Dead Man’s Party, containing the hit title track and the
movie theme “Weird Science.”
Elfman also began to focus on movie work in
1985, collaborating with Tim Burton to write the score
for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.In 1986, the album BOINGO came out. More movie work with Burton followed,
as did the theme for The Simpsons.
Elfman still found time to collaborate with his
bandmates for the 1990 album Dark At The End Of The
Tunnel, and in 1994, the band released the guitardrenched album Boingo.Still, with Elfman’s film career
taking off and the band going nowhere, Oingo Boingo
called it quits in 1995, releasing their final concert on
CD and video as Farewell. Most of the band members
still work in the music industry, with Elfman recently
scoring Planet Of The Apes and Spider-Man.
***Catch Oingo Boingo and other new wave bands
every Monday from 8-10 p.m. on WMRE’s The Vault.
(http://vaultradio.cjb.net)***
upcoming
shows!!
check www.pollstar.com
for more dates and info
3/09/03: rainer maria
3/09/03: Audioslave w/
burning brides
3/09/03: otep!
3/11/03 : Unearth
3/12/03: Shai Halud w/
Shadows Fall
3/12/03: Yo la tengo w/ the
glands
3/19/03: catpower
3/22/03: Indigo girls
3/27/03: Sigur ros
4/01/03: insane clown posse
4/03/03: Cursive w/ engine
down
WMRE
Bachelorette!!!
5 Weeks, 5 Dates, 5 Men
One lucky winner will be chosen
to escort Rachel Gottschalk to her
Spring Formal.
To participate, call (404)727WMRE during Naked Radio,
Friday from 8 to 10pm on March
21st, or learnlink Alex Konieczny.
For a Bio, more pictures, and
contest info, check out
www.WMRE.org
-Laura IngramYes, it's true. The dynamic indie rock giants called it quits
after deciding the creativity that made their music so worthwhile
and different for the last ten years just wasn't there anymore.
This has been the worst, most depressing band break up since
Ben Folds Five bit it my freshmen year. So, rather than eke out a
few more albums that would never quite compare to their last
amazing album, Change, released on De Soto Records, the
group decided to dismantle and pursue various side projects and
solo albums.
One has to respect that sort of decision because it must
be very hard to let a good thing go at its peak rather than letting
it fizzle slowly out like a diet coke five minutes after you open it.
No, the D-Plan isn't taking the beaten path of overkill, redundancy, and lackluster writing that reality TV, talk shows, and the
Simpsons all walk down today. And despite how respectful this
may be, it still pisses me off. I would relish another release by
this band, because however mediocre it may be compared to the
standards set by Change, Emergency and I, and The
Dismemberment Plan is Terrified!, it would still be infinitely more
innovative, charismatic, and real than anything that's being
played on MTV or the radio these days. I have yet to hear better
lyrics than those found in their songs, "Time Bomb," or
"Following Through," or to see a better drummer perform live.
If you haven't had a chance to check out the
Dismemberment Plan for yourself yet, you owe it to yourself to
get on Kazaa right this second and download a couple of their
songs. The band, although stating definitively that there will not
be another original album released, has mentioned that they are
in the midst of planning one final national tour this summer. I
highly suggest you fork out 10 dollars so that you, too, can experience all that is wonderful and profound about this amazing
band and their profoundly hot singer.
iron and
wine:
the creek drank the
cradle
a cd review by jon rhymes
Upon first listen, Iron & Wine’s debut
album seems outmoded, the production value a
little shoddy (recorded on analog four-track) and
its message ultimately depressing. Yet, the tender sorrow, gripping antiquity, and minimalism of
The Creek Drank the Cradle is its appeal. The
album successfully attempts not to imitate what
has been done, but instead to extend the ever
changing lo-fi genre, displaying the brilliance and
craftsmanship of such works as Nick Drake’s
Pink Moon and Elliot Smith’s Either/Or. Imagined
by Sam Beam, a local cinematography professor
in Miami, Florida, the one-man-band yields a
range of categories from blues to bluegrass,
from folk to straightedged ballads, each
designed to edify and inspire.
For all it’s worth, Iron & Wine’s sweeping,
Southern epic deserves to be played as it was
intended - on a dusty phonograph. The gentle
feedback and warm ambiance of Beam’s voice
complement the intimacy and honesty of the
record. As though in personal conversations,
Beam glides over the soft, affecting lyrics with
intelligence and mastery, rendering a gorgeous
narrative of experience and regrets: “I see you
again/ On the streets by the beach/ In the
evening/ Will you fly like a bird/ Stealing bread/
Out from under my nose?” The muted tone of
the album, however, allows Beam to reveal himself more openly through his writing, displaying
an array of stunning images and unexpected
accounts.
Sung no higher than a whisper, Beam’s
voice presents a wistful framework for sober
reflection, echoing the slow, country-infused style
of Songs: Ohia, the kind translation of Mark
Kozelek (Red House Painters) and the poignant
surrender of Damien Jurado (both of whom are
Iron & Wine’s fellow label mates on Sub Pop
Records).
While his quiet manner remains faithful
throughout, it is Beam’s approach to each
song which breaks the repetition. On “Weary
Memory” and “Promise What You Will,” Beam,
mindful of his delivery, attempts to hide behind
the orchestration, almost shy of the words he
speaks; on others like “Lion’s Mane” and
“Angry Blade,” he preaches boldly, commanding a graceful tone and a pitched tenor.
In addition, a stark collection of instruments, artfully employed to deepen his
already beautiful composition, layer upon
Beam’s peaceful crooning. He parades a
banjo, a steel string and an old-fashioned
acoustic guitar, stripped to their fundamental
roots, with which lush arrangements, replete
with finger picking and solos, imbue energy
and emotion beyond Beam’s lyrical capabilities. They hover over breathtaking poetry and
move about his intonations, never impinging
on the melody or drawing attention away from
the harmony.
Case in point, his low-key sound can
be heard wading through issues of religion,
family upbringing and former lovers as Beam
sings in “Upward over the Mountain”: “Mother
I made it up from the bruise of a floor of this
prison/ Mother I lost it all, all of the fear of the
lord I was given/ Mother forget me now that
the creek drank that cradle you sang to...”
The 11 track album, recorded in
Beam’s home, stands as a meditative look at
back porches, screen doors, lazy summers,
and past love affairs. Bound in honesty and
originality, Beam’s lyrics and moving guitar
work appeals not for their flawlessness, but
for their daring, yet compelling simplicity.
Listen to The Creek Drank the Cradle on
WMRE, "The Voice of Emory."
coming soon...
WMRE s Very Own Battle of the
Bands!
winners will open up for our
spring band party!
top 10 breakup songs of all
eternity (in English)
by Josh Edwin and Caleb Warren
When The Wheel published it's list of Top Ten Break-up songs in it's Valentine's Day
issue, a lively debate about the merits and faults of the list ensued. Or at least between us, it did.
Of course we thought that we knew better.
Ben Folds Five - Song for the Dumped
The epitome of all pent-up outraged break-up wrath. With
pounding piano, slamming drums, chaotic guitars, and
wailing vocals, the Five encapsulate in one song all the
anger and indignation of a messy break-up. Summed up
best by the verse and chorus: "I wish I hadn't / Bought you
dinner / Right before you / Dumped me on your front
porch / Give me my money back / Give me my money
back / You bitch!"
Jeff Buckley- Last Goodbye
Sad and sweet, a melodic ode to a love reaching it's end.
This is Buckley at his best, with straightforward, honest
lyrics and reach-the-mountain-peak vocals. Reaches it's
peak when Buckley asks, "Did you say 'no, this can't
happen to me'? / Did you rush to the phone to call?"
Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
Dylan realizes that some relationships just aren't meant to
be. Although upset, he maintains a blue optimism and is
ready to move on: "Goodbye is too good a word, so I'll just
say fare thee well". A much more positive outlook than the
outright pessimism of more recent songs like "Lovesick"
and "Sugar Baby": "There ain't no limit to the amount of
trouble women bring."
Ben Harper - Ashes
Mournful rumination on a relationship that has broken
down. A musical wake. The first four lines, a biblical illusion, set the tone perfectly. "Ashes to ashes / Dust to dust
/ That's what has become / Of our love and trust."
Big Bill Broonzy - Baby Please Don't Go
Here's a blues song about a break up that isn't all that sad
(especially if you listen to the Credence version).
Sometimes no matter how much you beg and plead, she's
leaving your sorry ass. "Baby, please don't go and leave
me here, you know it's cold down here."
The Descendants - Hope
A scathing indictment of a girl you both hate and want
back. Vengeful and righteously pissed off: "Why can't you
say / 'You torture me'? / You're already thinking about
someone else / When he comes home / You'll be in his
arms and I'll be gone / But I know my day will come." For
a version slightly easier on the ears, listen to Sublime's
faithful cover on 40 oz to Freedom.
Susan Tedeschi- It Hurt so Bad
When it comes to belting out broken-hearted blues, Susan
Tedeschi blows all other women out of the Delta. Move it
on over Bonnie Raitt, this chick's got the vocal cords, the
soul, the roots (although from Boston, she's toured with the
Northern Mississippi All-stars), and the connections (she's
currently playing with the remaining members of the
Grateful Dead) to be the best blues-woman since Janis. "I
was a fool to ever leave you / You were a fool to let me
go."
Hank Williams - Lovesick Blues
"I got a feeling called the blues…" Maybe so, but when
white Alabama farm boys get the blues, it sounds more like
solid country gold. This song set the standard for all succeeding country singles - a broken heart, a catchy melody,
and a yodel-ish twang. This song would have been higher
on the list if it hadn't inspired a plethora of terrible Nashville
knock-off crap. Notable exception: George Jones's "If the
Drinking Don't Kill Me, Her Memory Will", which follows
close in Hank's footsteps.
Grateful Dead - Brokedown Palace
"Listen to the river sing sweet songs to rock my soul"…The
Grateful Dead have always managed to stride forward
while looking back. Although they were one of music's
most innovative bands, their music was deeply rooted in
blues, folk, country, and jazz. "Brokedown Palace" leaves
you heartbroken by the river trying to figure out how to
move on with life. Advice: "Lovers come and go, the river
flows, flows, flows."
Tom Waits - Bad Liver and a Broken Heart
Waits the weirdo wallowing in self-pity. Beat up and miserable, and the drinking only makes it worse. Listen for the
sarcastic "A Kiss is But a Kiss" reference in the opening
and great lines like: "Well I got a bad liver and a broken
heart / Yea I drunk me a river since you tore me apart /
And I don't have a drinking problem / Cept when I can't get
a drink"
Honorable Mentions
Robert Johnson - Love in Vain
David Gray- Shine
The Doors - The End
Biz Markie - You Got What I Need
Beck- Lost Cause
if you want a good argument, feel free to LL us.
gods gonna set this
world
on
fire
a zwan review by vijay ram
The heavens cry their mortal thirst no
more. Billy Corgan and his band of rag-tag misfits, The Smashing Pumpkins, finally imploded
due to the pressures of the record industry in the
winter of 2000. After 10 years of reflection upon
the existentialist drudgery of love, hate, God,
and the sublime, it seems
about time for Billy Corgan
to bring things back down
to Earth.
With this in mind
Billy Corgan set out to
seek the ultimate redemption from the Gods of Rock
and Roll in the form of Zwan. He kept Jimmy
Chamberlin, the reason your meaningless life
has purpose and he still doesn't give a shit, from
his pumpkins days; Paz Lenchantin he snatched
from A Perfect Circle; David Pajo, an indie rock
legend from Slint; and Matt Sweeney, another
indie rocker from Skunk and Chavez. Now put
all of these beautiful faces in a studio and what
do you expect to come out: the saviors of Rock
and Roll. Instead you get one of the most anticlimactic records of Billy Corgan's career.
Don't get me wrong, I love Billy Corgan.
He could shit on a mic for 72 minutes, and I
would still buy the album. There are just a lot of
things missing from this record that Zwan originally was setting out to create. Before the record
even came out, I had heard a variety of great
live songs that I could not wait to hear on the
album, but now that the album is out, only a few
survived the final cut. I miss Billy Corgan's lyrical
imagery, soulful whine, and ability to sex you
hard in just one song. He's traded all that for
God-Art-Pretentious-Glam-Pop-Rock mediocrity.
With Zwan, Billy is reborn as a man of faith,
whatever faith that may be, and all of his songs
are rich with proclamations of religious fervor
missing from his days with The Smashing
Pumpkins. This makes me sad because we may
never hear a song as brilliantly sexy and seduc-
tive as “Geek USA” or “Stumbeline.”
Although this album is quite bland at
points, it does have some very well written
songs. “Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea” has
everything that I liked about the Pumpkins, a
self-indulgent attempt to create a sonic mural
with a traditional psalm followed by irrelevant
abstraction; and “Ride a Black Swan,” although
the lyrics almost sound like they came from a
heartbroken thirteen year old boy's internet
poetry log, is still a very well written rock piece.
Although all hope is not lost, I think this band set
out to be a live act, and from what I hear(and
will see on April 7th) this band is redemption in
the making. Like most bands, it takes a while to
find their place in the stars. If Zwan drops their
fatalistic approach and work on becoming rock
saviors, they will do just that. Some tracks that I
think are at par with Billy's magical gift for smart
pop are “Come With me,” “Lyric,” “Ride a Black
Swan,” “Settle Down,” and “Jesus, I/Mary Star of
the Sea.”
art done by cookie dough
ice cream.
weezer sucks
-amrit dhirWeezer sucks. This is
not my opinion; it is a fact: a
fact that is not even kept a
secret, not even by the band
itself. All one needs to discern
this simple truth is a brief history of the band. And since I am
perpetually disturbed by this
brutal reality, in relaying these
facts, I shall use begin with the
words of David Drainman: “Let
me enlighten you.”
The
band’s first
album
came
out in
1994.
It met
with
great
success,
earning multi-platinum status and
airing three videos on MTV.
Following the success of this
self-titled debut, the lead singer,
Rivers Cuomo became disenfranchised with the music
industry and decided to selfproduce the follow-up in a
basement in order to distance
his music from the corruption of
the music business. As a
result, the album flopped; the
music was very raw and dirty
and Cuomo’s s lyrics were cleverly suggestive and emotional
(because of this, many of
today’s emo bands consider
this album, Pinkerton, as one of
their greatest influences).
Cuomo was devastated
by the lack of commercial success and somewhat embarrassed of what he had revealed
about his feelings and his private life. He cut himself off
from the music industry and
enrolled at Harvard, only to
drop after three years. He
spent the following year caved
up in a small apartment in Los
Angeles with the windows and
walls painted black. He
unplugged the phone and
sulked alone in his misery for a
year.
In 2001, Weezer made
its return to the mainstream.
Cuomo now studies (quite religiously) all aspects of pop
music (he literally sits down
with a pen and paper and takes
notes) and writes hundreds of
simple, emotionless melodies
(however, I am aware that it
takes a true genius to create art
out of simplicity and I truly
believe that Cuomo is nothing
short of a pure genius; then, he
takes ten to fifteen of these,
puts them on an album and
makes millions of dollars (when
Maladroit
was
released,
the songs
for the fifth
album
were
already
written).
The recent albums, starting
with the Green Album (it is
actually self-titled, just like the
very first one; that says a lot
about where the creativity has
gone), are the tools with which
Cuomo takes advantage of his
audience. People who listen to
Weezer like to think that they
listen to alternative: an alternative to prefabricated, mechanical, consumer-raping pop, but
that is exactly what Weezer is.
The love songs are not even
about real people; at least
when Jonathan Davis screams
about killing himself, I know that
he is serious.
Do not think that I am
opposed to mindless, formulaic
music (I listen to Slipknot for
God’s sake and I host a radio
show on WMRE called Maggot
Radio (Fridays 6-8pm)) but
Cuomo has shown that he is
capable of so much more; he
has proven that he can create
true, emotional, meaningful
music. Yet, who can blame
him? He is making money with
little effort and having sex with
underage Asian girls; and isn’t
that what music is all about
anyway?
I have a weird relationship with the Sea and
Cake, much like someone you are more than
acquaintances with but isn’t part of your core group
of good friends.The Sea and Cake has been my
dependable melody-ridden post-rock friend for about
five years now.
How the Sea and Cake and I have come to
this understanding is quite a mystery as I love all
their albums and own a good number of them, yet
something prevents them from attaining a higher
level in our musical “friendship.” Using this metaphor,
I have many bands that I would consider to be “good
friends” – bands that I like to listen to daily, bands
that I have emotional attachment to, and bands that I
get genuinely excited to see or hear.Then somewhere below that is where I envision the Sea and
Cake, the dependable person you have been friends
with for a long time, people that you trust, but for
different circumstances have not quite achieved the
aforementioned status.
I was elated when I found out that the Sea
and Cake had a new album entitled One Bedroom out
on the behemoth post-rock Chicago label,Thrill
Jockey. Having finally gotten though a long and steady
on and off relationship with their albums Oui (2000)
and The Fawn (1997), I went out that day and bought
One Bedroom. As yet it has not ventured past the
front end of my crate of heavy rotation records, and I
have been actively recommending the album.
coming
WMRE’s
soon
Spring
Reunited with the Sea and Cake, I was again
reminded on how much I like this band. “It’s been a
long time since I’ve been in a Sea and Cake phase,” I
thought to myself as I queued One Bedroom for a second listen. Let me start out saying that I love this
album, it will most likely be in my top twenty, maybe
even top ten of 2003, however I feel that One
Bedroom is not going anywhere new for the Sea and
Cake and will be likely lumped together with the
other six of their albums.They are all stellar albums,
but they have a tendency to be more similar than distinct because of their sound and approach to song
structure and arrangement.
The album starts out with “Four Corners”
which is a tuneful gem that one expects from the Sea
and Cake.With its lush, effects-laden guitar work,
infectious bouncy baseline, and Sam Prekop’s unique
vocals, the Sea and Cake pull off a perfectly arranged
pop song.This sets the pace for the entire album—
they just churn out laidback guitar-oriented pop. One
Bedroom is similar to their earlier album, The Fawn in
the amount of electronic influenced percussion (by
John McIntire who also plays with Tortoise) and a
greater use of production techniques to create a
fuzzier, less organic sound. “Interiors” is one of these
songs and starts out as one of the slower songs off
the album featuring a haunting guitar riff that dissolves into panoramic lilting fuzz. The album works
as an album from start to finish, with one song leading into the next while keeping up the momentum of
the record. McIntire’s percussion helps in achieving
this goal, as his style is prominent in anything that he
is apart of, be it in production or playing. The album
ends with a cover of “Sound and Vision” by David
Bowie. A rare song to cover, but I can see why the
Sea and Cake chose this, and I think it is one of the
better songs on the album.
All in all, this is a great album by the Sea and
Cake and up to par with the rest of their full-length
releases. If you are already a fan, this will only please
you, as they have continued their legacy as my
favorite more-then-acquaintance band. If you are new
to them, One Bedroom will serve as a good introduction to an essential post-rock band. (8.3/10)
in
Band
april...
Party!